Joe Biden has blamed the rapid spread of the Omicron variant for a shortage of Covid-19 tests in the US, which he said on Tuesday had happened much more quickly than officials had expected.
The president announced his administration would purchase 500m rapid at-home tests to send to households starting in January as it looks to slow the rise in cases.
But he rejected claims his officials had been too slow to approve and distribute tests more widely, saying they had simply been caught out by how quickly the heavily mutated variant had become dominant.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that Omicron now accounts for about 73 per cent of US Covid-19 cases, up from just 13 per cent a week ago.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated this was going to be as rapid spreading,” Biden said. “We have a lot of people who had access to tests, could order them, could have their insurance pay for them . . . But then all of a sudden it was like everybody rushed to the counter — it was a big, big rush.”
The Biden administration has been criticised for months for a lack of testing resources, where at-home kits are often difficult to find and, when they are available, can cost $24 for a pack of two.
But in recent days the crunch has worsened. Walgreens and CVS, the country’s two biggest pharmacy chains, are both rationing how many test kits each customer can buy, while long queues are forming outside testing sites in New York.
The Biden administration’s purchase of a 500m tests will not come in time to meet the pre-holiday rush. But it does mark a reversal from the position taken earlier this month, when Jen Psaki, press secretary, appeared to mock such a suggestion, telling a reporter: “Should we just send one to every American?”
Tuesday’s announcement will provide enough for every adult to have two free tests.
Biden also announced a range of other measures to help the US prepare for the coming wave of infections.
He said 1,000 military doctors, nurses and paramedics would be mobilised to help staff hospitals in January and February if needed. Meanwhile, six emergency response teams, each with more than 100 clinical personnel and paramedics, are already being sent to six states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The federal government will also set up new pop-up vaccination sites in areas of high demand, after pharmacies in urban areas in particular became swamped with people looking for booster shots.
Biden said however that he intended to remove the travel ban on South Africa and seven other southern African countries soon, having imposed it soon after Omicron was discovered in that region and before it spread to the US.
The president said: “Remember why I said we put the travel ban on? It was to see how much time we had before it hit here so we could begin to decide what we needed by looking at what was happening in other countries.
“We’re past that now, and so it’s something that’s being raised with me by the docs and I’ll have an answer for that soon.” One official said a decision to lift the restrictions could come as soon as this week.
Biden also reassured those people who have been vaccinated that they do not have to change their behaviour because of the Omicron wave.
Referring to Americans wondering if they can “safely celebrate the holidays” with family and friends, he said: “The answer is, yes you can, if you and those you celebrate with are vaccinated, particularly if you’ve gotten your booster shot.
“If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you planned.”
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