White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday the administration will start delivery of its promised 500 million at-home COVID tests later this month as contract negotiations continue to fill the massive order.
She also denied an allegation that President Joe Biden 'has lost control' of the COVID pandemic after long lines of people waited to get tested around the holidays and the United States recorded a million new cases of the disease on Monday.
When asked if she agreed with those critics, Psaki responded: 'We would not.'
'We're in a very different place than we were a year ago,' she added. '200 million people are vaccinated. Those are people who are protected, seriously protected, from illness and death from the virus. We have also just purchased the largest over-the-counter purchase of tests in history - 500 million tests.'
hite House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration will start delivery of its promised 500 million at-home COVID tests later this month
Psaki held her press briefing with only 14 reporters after the White House Correspondents Association cut down the number of attendees due to rising COVID cases
The administration has been defensive of its response to the pandemic and of the testing shortage after long lines formed around the country with people wanted to be COVID tested ahead of spending the holidays with loved ones.
'I know this remains frustrating,' President Biden said Tuesday of the testing issue. 'Believe me, it's frustrating to me, but we're making improvements. And the last two weeks we've stood up federal testing sites all over the country.'
Biden promised in mid-December that half a billion at-home COVID testing kits will be available for free to Americans.
His administration has yet to offer comprehensive details on how the delivery system will work other than to say there will be a website where people can sign up. But the administration has yet to answer questions on how it will determine how many kits each household gets, how long it will take households to get the kits and how those kits will be delivered.
Psaki noted that all bids for the testing contract are in and the administration is evaluating the responses with the expectation the first kits would be ready
