The federal government says it was starting to offer free COVID-19 test kits again on Monday but the website to order them was not offering them yet on Monday morning and sometimes crashed when trying to reach it.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said households are allowed to order 4 free tests. It says the new tests will detect current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year.
Officials say anyone who uses the test kits should repeat testing following a negative result, whether they have symptoms or not, to reduce the risk of a false negative test result.
Expired COVID-19 Test Kits
They also say many test kits have extended the expiration dates longer than what is printed on the package so the tests may provide accurate results even if they are past the use-by date. The FDA has a list of extended expiration dates.
Updated COVID-19 Vaccine 2024
The FDA approved updated COVID-19 vaccines for 2024-2025 in August.
The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been updated with a formula to more closely target currently circulating variants and provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. The updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are manufactured by ModernaTX and Pfizer.
The updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines include Comirnaty and Spikevax, both of which are approved for individuals 12 years of age and older, and the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, both of which are authorized for emergency use for individuals 6 months through 11 years of age.
