{"id":1150498,"date":"2021-12-24T13:19:14","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T18:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1150498"},"modified":"2021-12-24T13:19:19","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T18:19:19","slug":"white-house-dismissed-october-proposal-to-provide-free-at-home-tests-to-americans-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-dismissed-october-proposal-to-provide-free-at-home-tests-to-americans-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Dismissed October Proposal To Provide Free At-Home Tests To Americans For The Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-house-dismissed-october-proposal-to-provide-free-at-home-tests-to-americans-for-the-holidays%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1150498&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Joe Biden\u2019s administration rejected a proposal back in October that would have provided rapid, at-home COVID tests to Americans in anticipation of a surge over the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>The president <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/21\/joe-biden-free-at-home-rapid-coronavirus-tests-americans-omicron-winter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced Tuesday<\/a> his administration\u2019s plan to purchase 500 million at-home rapid COVID-19 tests that will be available for free to Americans. The announcement follows testing shortages across the country as the Omicron variant continues to spread \u2013 it also, however, follows the dismissal of a similar proposal brought to the White House months earlier by COVID-19 testing experts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2021\/12\/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays\">according<\/a> to Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n<p>The testing experts first pitched the idea to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/21\/joe-biden-considering-reversing-south-africa-travel-ban-omicron\/\">Biden<\/a> administration officials via a zoom call on October 22, Vanity Fair reported. The plan pushed for around 732 million tests per month and the first page included a \u201cTesting Surge to Prevent Holiday COVID Surge\u201d proposal.<\/p>\n<p>According to Vanity Fair, the 10-page proposal essentially detailed options for preventing long lines and testing shortages over the holidays as Americans rushed to get COVID tested to ensure safe gatherings. Today, this is exactly what the U.S. is seeing \u2013 states like New York have seen hours-long lines of people waiting to get <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/14\/joe-biden-applauds-covid-19-pill-data-cautions-several-steps-remain\/\">COVID-19<\/a> tests while retailers country-wide are struggling to keep tests in stock, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/12\/17\/us\/politics\/us-covid-tests-omicron.html\">according<\/a> to a recent report by The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal also included a plan titled, \u201cEvery American Household to Receive Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays\/New Year,\u201d according to Vanity Fair. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/08\/anthony-fauci-definition-fully-vaccinated-omicron\/\">(RELATED:&nbsp;\u2018A Matter Of When, Not If\u2019: Fauci Says Definition Of Fully Vaccinated Will Change)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7342588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7342588\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Binax Covid-19 testing kits are handed out in the Bensonhurst section of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on December 23, 2021. \u2013 The resumption of holiday travel coupled with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant left Americans scrambling to find at-home Covid tests, leading multiple major distributors to limit the number of kits per customer. Amazon, as well as vendors on its platform, began limiting the number of tests per person on December 22. National pharmaceutical chains CVS and Walgreens announced a maximum limit of six and four kits, respectively, per customer. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith \/ AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Oct. 25, just days after the virtual meeting, the COVID-19 testing experts learned through a White House official that the plan was not going to be implemented. Instead, the administration opted to push for rapid home tests to be able to move through the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) approval process faster, Vanity Fair noted.<\/p>\n<p>The testing experts included individuals from organizations such as the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Rockefeller Foundation, according to Vanity Fair. The proposal\u2019s dismissal sparked differing opinions among the experts, with one suggesting the administration was \u201cplaying small ball\u201d and another calling the White House \u201cresponsive\u201d to the idea, even if it was ultimately dropped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did not have capacity to manufacture over-the-counter tests at that scale,\u201d an administration <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/23\/jen-psaki-donald-trump-safety-efficacy-vaccines-tweet\/\">official<\/a> told Vanity Fair regarding implementing the proposal back in October.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has long struggled with finding a solution to testing, with Biden previously announcing a plan to require health insurance to reimburse Americans for tests. White House press secretary Jen Psaki scoffed at the idea of giving free tests to Americans earlier in December.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould we just send one to every American?\u201d Psaki said at a press briefing when asked about the general idea, which has been used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/at-home-covid-tests-are-a-free-easy-part-of-everyday-life-in-the-uk-and-the-us-has-taken-note\/\">successfully<\/a> in other countries.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, although Biden has announced the plan to purchase 500 million tests that Americans can request be sent to their homes, many details remain up in the air. There is not yet a website for requesting a test and it is still unclear how many tests one household can get. What\u2019s more, this program won\u2019t be up and running until after the holidays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s administration rejected a proposal back in October that would have provided rapid, at-home COVID tests to Americans in anticipation of a surge over the holidays.The president announced &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1150498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}