Thread: On costs $$ of at-home Rapid Tests

The US government earmarked 10& #39;s of billions of dollars for testing. This was a great move!

But why isn& #39;t this money being used to make frequent rapid testing more available to the consumer?

Testing is a public health good.

1/x

The government should follow the same successful playbook for frequent testing as it has for vaccines: pay for the tests themselves (as it did for the vaccine) or buy down the price at retail (as it does for the administration for the vaccine itself). 

2/x

Why is this important?

1. Children still aren& #39;t vaccinated
2. Healthcare workers and others who are vaccinated can still contract the virus (and may be able to pass it on)
3. Less than 50% of US adult population is fully vaccinated

Testing is our eyes to see this virus

3/x

Paying for the tests is a common sense public health strategy to get us through the remainder of this pandemic, using money that is already available.

With 10& #39;s of billions of $$ set aside already - the average person should only have to pay a couple dollars a test.

4/x

If we keep costs of these crucial public health tools at $24, this adds to the gross inequities in access to public health.

I& #39;d like to see the US gov work w the test companies to figure out how to get the costs down to <$5 per test in the US. It& #39;s the right thing to do.

5/