The government had spent more than $1 billion on the program since it was established in 2021
The Department of Health and Human Services announced it is shuttering a nationwide program that offered free COVID-19 tests to community organizations, citing it bled taxpayer funds despite the pandemic's end.
"With COVID-19 behaving more like the seasonal flu — rising and falling through the year — and tests widely available at retail stores nationwide, continued federal distribution is a significant waste of taxpayers’ dollars," HHS told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "The COVID-19 pandemic is over and HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again."
The government had spent more than $1 billion on the program since it was established in 2021 under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital learned.
The program deployed government-purchased COVID-19 tests to community partners across the country to deliver tests at no cost to the patient. HHS cited that testing for COVID-19 now mimics seasonal flu cases, with retail shops across the country stocking their shelves with COVID tests, meaning "continued federal distribution is a significant waste of taxpayers’ dollars."
Americans who ordered tests through community partnership by 5 p.m. May 30 will still receive their order, according to HHS.
HHS is in the midst of purchasing one million newer tests that are able to differentiate between the COVID-19 virus versus the flu, which will be deployed if there are any shortfalls or emergencies with the COVID testing, Fox Digital learned.
State or local health departments, as well as community organizations that have a stockpile of tests and various local health centers may still provide free tests to Americans as the program shutters, according to HHS.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which tore across the country in 2020, officially ended years ago. Then-President Joe Biden declared the pandemic was "over" back in 2022, while the World Health Organization determined the pandemic officially ended by 2023.. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Steve Helber, File |
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week.
They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns.
Kennedy’s decision to “retire” the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors’ groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy’s desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations.
The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak.
Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he’s promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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