Backround on why  rapid tests for COVID-19 are in such short supply

...

At-home rapid antigen tests are reselling for triple the retail price on some digital marketplaces. Testing locations in L.A. County have been overwhelmed by mile-long lines, with some events canceled due to traffic. Some would-be self-testers have resigned themselves to driving between CVS and Walgreens locations, hoping to snag a kit at a reasonable price.

Companies are racing to fulfill the excess demand.

Abbott Laboratories, which makes the BinaxNOW rapid antigen test, expects to produce 70 million tests this month and is working to raise that to 100 million, said CEO Robert Ford.

Given that the U.S. has been experiencing COVID waves for nearly two years, you may be wondering: How did we find ourselves in this situation? The Times spoke with public health experts to understand the roots of the shortfall and what might be done to avoid one next time.

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized at least 12 rapid antigen tests that can be conducted at home without requiring a prescription. Half were approved between October and December.

The earliest approved were tests produced by Abbott Laboratories and Quidel Corp., which received their emergency use authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration in March 2021.

Abbott’s tests alone account for about 75% of U.S. retail sales, according to an October earnings call. ....o why aren’t they making enough tests?

Bob Kocher, who co-led California’s COVID-19 testing task force, said the rapid test shortage ultimately came down to a failure to anticipate demand.

“If you’re a test manufacturer, you’ve been reluctant to make tests that you’re not sure you’re going to sell,” said Kocher, a physician and venture capitalist who served in the Obama administration as special assistant to the president for healthcare and economic policy. “And if you go back a few months, before we had Omicron, and even Delta, there was a sense that OK, we have low numbers of cases in America, we’re vaccinating people, and COVID might go away.”

During that time, Abbott shut down two production lines and closed a manufacturing plant. The shelf life for most rapid antigen tests ranges from a few months to a year.

“The question is, is the government or somebody willing to pay for them and take the risk that you don’t use them? Because the manufacturers don’t want to do that,” Kocher said. ...