White House promises more rapid COVID-19 tests amid supply shortage

The White House promises more COVID-19 rapid tests amid supply shortages.

With at-home rapid COVID-19 tests hard to come by and many stores limiting purchases, the White House on Friday acknowledged the current supply crunch, promising to double the number of rapid tests available for sale within the next two months.

"You’re right that the at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand," White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said, emphasizing that "overall, testing capacity across the country remains robust."

"The manufacturing is scaling up significantly, doubling across the next couple of months, and we're just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests."

The White House has touted the effectiveness of its new vaccine mandates and employee testing requirements, and it has committed to shoring up testing by investing billions of dollars.