Free At-Home COVID Tests Will End Due to Lack of Funding

Vanessa Etienne
·2 min read
4
covid19 home test
covid19 home test
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Getty At-home COVID-19 test

The Biden administration is ending its program for free at-home COVID-19 tests due to a lack of congressional funding.

A senior White House official revealed that the current supply of COVID tests is being depleted and will be saved for a possible surge of cases this upcoming fall season, NBC News reports.

"Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 because Congress hasn't provided additional funding to replenish the nation's stockpile of tests," the Covid.gov website reads.

The initiative was launched in January amid the nationwide surge of the highly contagious omicron variant.

The program for the free tests began after there were massive shortages of antigen COVID-19 tests. New infections had hit nearly record-breaking levels around the Christmas and New Year holidays.

At the time, President Joe Biden vowed to distribute as many as 500 million at-home test kits. Each residential household in the United States has since been able to order up to 16 free rapid test kits.

RELATED: Officials Warn Consumers About Using Fake At-Home COVID Tests — Here's How to Avoid Them

Coronavirus Home Test (COVID-19)
Coronavirus Home Test (COVID-19)

Getty Images COVID-19 at-home test

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

However, officials had warned that without proper funding, the Biden administration would not be able to maintain their COVID response efforts.

"We have warned that Congressional inaction would force unacceptable tradeoffs and harm our overall COVID-19 preparedness and response—and that the consequences would likely worsen over time," the White House official told CNN. "Unfortunately, because of the limited funding we have to work with, we have had to make impossible choices about which tools and programs to invest in—and which ones we must downsize, pause, or end all together."

If Congress allocates additional funding, the government will "expeditiously resume distribution of free tests through COVIDTests.gov," the official added.