The department didn’t say how much it planned to spend on the purchase. The Siemens test is a relatively new option for at-home testing in the U.S., as the Food and Drug Administration temporarily authorized it just last month.
The planned spending marks the next step in Biden’s plan to counter surging cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Retailers in recent weeks have had trouble keeping at-home test kits in stock and long lines persist at testing centers across the country. Biden has promised to provide free tests and masks to Americans.
The government began taking orders for free tests last Tuesday, though it hasn’t finalized which manufacturers will supply all of them.
Other test makers that have significant government contracts include iHealth Labs, a unit of the Chinese company Andon Health Co. Ltd. that signed a $1.3 billion deal to provide test kits to the U.S.
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