Amazon is the only entity with the fulfillment capability to get rapid tests for the coronavirus sent to every American home.
I have been self-isolating for the past week, after testing positive for the coronavirus. If not for a $7 rapid home antigen test kit that I ordered months ago, I’d be waiting two more days for a result from Kaiser, which currently offers only the slower PCR test method. The Bay Area, like many other parts of the country, is currently out of stock and test kits are unavailable for weeks through Amazon. Frustratingly, the only way to know same-day if your symptoms are from SARS-CoV-2 is to find someone who can spare a rapid test or locate a for-profit testing site and pay well over $100.
Two years into the pandemic, and at the onset of a new variant, the lack of rapid home testing is another troubling symptom of America’s chronically ill, profit centric, health care system. The government and the private sector need to be doing more.
The omicron variant, which possibly causes less severe illness for some, transmits more effectively and onset of symptoms appear in two to three days on average. People who think they might be sick, or have exposed family and friends, shouldn’t have to search for hours or wait for days to know. Any testing that does not yield an immediate result to the patient is itself contributing to the spread of the virus.
Every American household ought to have several test kits on hand through this pandemic and the ability to get more on a moment’s notice. This is the first step to controlling the spread of infection.
Most developed countries already have a range of testing options easily available to their citizens: from laboratory-based methods like Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR, that can determine variant type, to point-of-care rapid analyzers using Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology, and of course, the less accurate but highly useful antigen-based home tests.
The European Union as of last month, for instance, had 39 authorized rapid self-administered antigen tests compared to 12 in the U.S., with justifiable concern that the Food and Drug Administration may be playing favorites. And despite having market advantage, manufacturers like Abbott are still unable to ensure adequate supply for the country. Before the omicron variant drove up demand, Abbott, one of the primary at-home test kit makers, destroyed unsold kit material and laid-off factory workers, seemingly prioritizing profit over social responsibility.
Recent announcements by Gov. Gavin Newsom to get kits to California colleges by spring and President Biden to eventually make kits available by mail are too little, too late. So, too, are mea culpa promises by manufacturers to ramp-up test kit production in the new year. Government and the private sector had ample opportunity to implement a reliable, cheap and easily accessible testing strategy for this country, yet have failed miserably — allowing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to spread uncontrollably. And waiting for the government to build new websites and companies to build new profit models are futile efforts when Americans needed access to rapid tests yesterday.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, the Biden administration needs to get Amazon on board to solve the public health crisis.
The tech company boasts it can reach over 72% of the U.S. population on the same-day or within 24 hours, and Amazon websites receive over 200 million unique American visitors per month. Amazon’s past reliance on the United States Postal Service is dwindling as well as it continues to rapidly build its own in-house shipping networks. The company went from shipping just 47% of its own packages in 2019 to 72% this year. Couple that with the postal service’s reported $4.9 billion net loss this past fiscal year, and it is clear that Amazon is the only entity with the reach and fulfillment capability to get rapid tests into every American home, and it should be doing so.
Amazon was the first place I looked to order test kits, only to be met by very sparse results. On Monday, only two brands of rapid home test kit, iHealth and Intrivo On/Go were available to order on Amazon, but both were shipping after Jan. 5. That Americans with a Prime membership can get a 50-inch LED TV within 24 hours but not a coronavirus home test kit is troubling.
Curiously, while both Abbott’s BinaxNOW and another at-home test, Quidel’s QuickVue, dominate the U.S. market for home tests — at least when available — neither are sold directly by Amazon. This is likely due to the companies having various profit-driven reasons to avoid the tech giant, such as wanting to remain in favor with their brick-and-mortar retailers. For its part, Amazon may want to eventually roll out its own branded home test kit, alongside its current PCR test, which allows customers to collect a sample at home and send it back to a lab for processing. The Biden administration should break this duopoly bottleneck by issuing an executive order allowing any test kits approved in the EU to be given immediate emergency use authorization by the FDA — and by ensuring Amazon allows those companies to sell on its platform.
Just as President Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to order American companies to manufacture ventilators and personal protective equipment, President Biden ought to be doing the same with Amazon, Abbott, Quidel and other companies to ensure Americans’ access to rapid home tests. While some may call this an intrusion into corporate sovereignty, let’s not forget Amazon’s distribution capabilities can only take place on publicly funded American infrastructure. If there was ever a mandate all Americans could stand behind, it would be in demanding some amount of corporate patriotism in helping America persevere through this pandemic.
Chirag Asaravala is a biotech consultant and has worked on HIV and hepatitis diagnostic kit manufacturing.