The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an emergency use authorization for the first over-the-counter, fully at-home COVID-19 test for emergency use. Previously, the agency authorized the first prescription COVID-19 test for home use, and the first non-prescription test system that allows people to take their own samples before sending it to a lab for analysis. The latest news appears to combine the best of the worlds.
The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test will likely be sold at pharmacies, and it won't require a prescription. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said patients can buy the rapid antigen kit, take it home, conduct their own nasal swab, and get their results "in as little as 20 minutes." As is the case with most tests, the FDA cautions there is a risk of false positive and negative results.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programmeThe Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive orderspeed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measlesSpeed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study findsSpeed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influenceSpeed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreadsSpeed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
