White House announces expanded COVID-19 testing, manufacturing, and virus sequencing

Biden administration officials say they are taking steps to extend the nation’s coronavirus testing capacity and raise vaccine allocations through various channels. HHS and the Department of Defense (DOD) will use $650 million to create “hubs” to increase testing for K-8 schools and settings where people congregate, such as homeless shelters. These regional coordinating centers will work with labs and universities to gather specimens, conduct tests, and report results to public health agencies. Meanwhile, weekly vaccine allocations increased to 13.5 million doses from 11 million last week, according to Jeffrey Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator. Allocations to pharmacies are slated to double to 2 million doses this week, compared with the previous week’s 1 million. The nation has administered an average 1.7 million doses per day over the most recent week, up from 1.1 million 4 weeks ago. Meanwhile, HHS and DOD will spend $815 million to increase domestic production of testing supplies and materials, including filter pipette tips, polymers used in antigen tests, and injected molded plastics for storing testing reagents. Additionally, CDC will spend $200 million to widen the genomic sequencing of the coronavirus in anticipation of the spread of viral variants.