Newsy Investigates: What Led To The Shortage Of At-Home COVID Tests

A focus on vaccines over routine testing for asymptomatic people helped tank the U.S. market for at-home rapid tests before the Delta variant struck.

President Biden's new strategy to end the pandemic includes a plan to surge production of at-home rapid tests, quickly selling out in stores and online. The shortage is the result of the U.S. failing to develop a market for home tests big enough to handle the spike in demand brought on by concerns about the Delta variant of the disease and breakthrough infections among vaccinated people, a Newsy investigation has found. “It’s like trying to buy toilet paper in the beginning of the pandemic,” said David Perry, who bought the last two packs of Abbott’s BinaxNOW tests at a Walgreens in North Oaks, Minn.