HHS will provide additional COVID-19 tests to states and vulnerable populations in 2021

Despite the promising outlook provided by the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine rollout that began earlier this week, officials insist that it is just as critical as ever to take safety measures in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

"While we're in the process of immunizing the American people, we must keep our guard up," said Dr. Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in a media briefing Thursday. "We must continue our critical mitigation steps and you know what they are, the three W's: Wear a mask, watch your distance, wash your hands."

Another key part in the fight against COVID-19 is testing, and to support those efforts, HHS announced Thursday three initiatives it's taking to help states in this endeavor.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

HHS will continue to provide weekly shipments of testing supplies to states and territories through at least March 2021, although it anticipates longer.

The agency also worked with the General Services Administration to set up a contract with Abbott Diagnostics to allow states, territories, tribes and other government agencies to purchase Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen tests at a fixed price through an existing Federal Supply Schedule program.

The contract ensures that states get a consistent source of testing supplies and removes the need for states to negotiate individual purchasing agreements with manufacturers. It establishes a maximum number of tests that each territory can purchase each month to help make sure there are enough supplies for all. The program will begin in mid-January, according to HHS.

Finally, HHS is allocating an additional 30 million Abbott BinaxNOW tests for vulnerable groups such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health care, hospice organizations, HBCUs, tribes and more. HHS estimates that this supply should last through March 2021.

THE LARGER TREND

Abbott's BinaxNOW tests received emergency use authorization back in August and HHS quickly awarded Abbott a contract for $760 million for the delivery of 150 million rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests.

Of the 150 million tests procured by HHS, 100 million were allocated to the nation's governors to use as they saw fit in their states and 50 million were set aside specifically for testing in high-risk populations.

To date, more than 218 million COVID-19 tests have been completed in the United States, according to HHS. It has provided $11 billion to states, territories and federally associated states to increase testing capacity, and $20 billion to support testing and other needs in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home healthcare agencies.

The Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will review the Moderna vaccine today as it did for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last Thursday.

The advisory committee is expected to take a vote by the end of the day on whether to recommend emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine to the FDA and if approved, distribution would begin this month.

If authorized, HHS expects it will be able to ship 7.9 million additional doses of vaccines to states next week.

ON THE RECORD

"Over the past year, our successful partnerships with federal agencies, industry, state leaders and state health agencies, have yielded novel, state of-the-art COVID-19 tests and drastically increased the volume of manufacturing of testing supplies," Giroir said in a statement. "Our work is not done, however. We are taking action to help ensure that states, territories, and specifically nursing homes, which care for our most vulnerable patients, continue to have access to the right tests at the right time well into 2021."

Twitter: @HackettMallory
Email the writer: mhackett@himss.org