Free At-Home Covid Tests Again Again; What You Need To Know About New Expiration Dates

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FREE COVID TESTS are once again available from the federal government. However, expiration dates on the kits are causing some confusion.

On September 26, 2024, the government resumed shipment of free COVID-19 tests to US residents. There’s a limit of one order per residential address, but each order contains four individual tests.

The official order page includes a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) note, advising:

Many COVID-19 tests have extended expiration dates, so you may be able to use your COVID-19 tests after the expiration date printed on the box.

To learn if the kits they receive have extended expiration dates, users are advised to visit the FDA’s list of extended expiration dates.website to look up information on their kits by manufacturer name..

Once users locate the brand and type of kits they received, they must refer to a separate website or PDF to research actual expiration dates by product lot number.

While researching this information is not convenient for everyone, the expiration extensions were announced in response to manufacturers testing their kits for accuracy beyond their printed expiration dates. These companies then shared their results with the FDA.

The FDA extended the expiration dates of several different test brands, lengthening their shelf life to up to two years.