Rising prices for rapid home tests for COVID-19 in the United States

In the United States, the COVID-19 test is being difficult to acquire for the population, the high demand has generated a shortage in stores. On the other hand, the price of one of the popular versions of these tests is rising more and more.

White House Agreement with Walmart and Kroger to Sell Home Quick Tests at a Discount

In September the White House announced that everyone would be able to purchase the BinaxNow home tests, each two-unit package costing $23 at Walmart, Kroger and Amazon, and would be given a 35 percent discount that equates to about $8 per cent in a period of three months.

This agreement expired in December, now a package of rapid tests on the Walmart website costs $19.88 and $23.99 on the Kroger, the tests are not available on Amazon.

Some health experts think that very expensive tests can affect people who cannot buy it, epidemiologists consider that the tests should be cheap as they are in other countries, with the aim of encouraging people to take such tests by feeling any symptoms related to COVID-19.

Increase in the purchase of rapid tests of Covid-19 due to contagions by Ómicron

The demand for COVID-19 kits skyrocketed as infections increased by the new Omicron variant, which in recent weeks has been very contagious. In most stores the tests were out of stock and as a result pharmacies began to limit the amount of tests that each person could buy.

On December 21, the President of the United States Joe Biden, made a commitment and announced a new plan where he will make 500 million home tests available for sale to the population, so that all customers can purchase it and have their home test.