Overnight Health Care — Presented by EMAA — Administration to up at-home
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It’s been busy around Washington, so you may have missed Fat Bear Week. Meet your chonky champion, Otis, whose fans named him the winner for the fourth time.
The Biden administration is aiming to boost the number of rapid, at-home coronavirus tests with a $1 billion investment, which officials said will quadruple the available supply by the end of the year.
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White House moves to quadruple rapid testing supply by December
President Biden
Joe BidenBiden announces nominations for Arts and Humanities endowments Biden and Xi agree to abide by Taiwan agreement On The Money — Presented by NRHC — Democrats cross the debt ceiling Rubicon MORE announced a $2 billion investment in rapid testing, which can deliver results in as little as 15 minutes, in September, which a White House official said was already on track to double capacity. The Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of a new rapid test from ACON Laboratories on Monday, as well as an additional $1 billion investment being announced Wednesday, will further increase capacity, the official said.
Big picture, some experts say it’s about time: The moves are a burst of activity in an area where many experts have been calling for greater action for more than a year. Some experts have criticized the FDA, saying it has been too cautious and conservative in authorizing new rapid tests.
Joseph Allen, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tweeted Wednesday that rapid testing “will go down as THE epic failure of this pandemic.”
“My question: the utility of rapid tests was so obvious for over a year, why is this just getting attention now?” he added.
The numbers: With the new announcements, the White House official said production of rapid tests will rise from about 30 million per month to 200 million per month starting in December and that the price is expected to fall as well.
A MESSAGE FROM EMAA
The international health organization recommended that children living in areas with “moderate to high transmission” of P. falciparum malaria receive four doses on a schedule once they are 5 months old to prevent the disease.
Significance: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the announcement a “historic moment,” saying the vaccine manufactured by British company…
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