Your Expired At-Home Covid-19 Tests May Still Work
Don’t throw out that seemingly outdated at-home rapid Covid-19 test just yet. It may still be good. The Food and Drug Administration has been extending expiration dates for some authorized at-home, over-the-counter Covid test kits, meaning some unused tests may still be viable.
The agency’s updated list of expiration dates may be useful to those reaching for their stash of Covid-19 tests amid new variants and a recent bump in cases and hospitalizations. Many Americans received free tests from the federal government through a program that has since expired, or from schools. They also bought their own tests during previous waves and may not have touched them since.
Covid-19 tests may be more expensive now after the federal government’s public-health emergency, a crisis response designation allowing certain healthcare protocols, ended in May. While the FDA initially marked many at-home Covid-19 kits with a fairly short shelf life, additional data gathered since then from manufacturers has given the agency more insight into how long the tests can be used accurately. The FDA has also extended expiration dates for Paxlovid, the first oral antiviral approved for treating mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults, from 12 months to 18 or 24 months.
How is the expiration date determined for an at-home Covid-19 diagnostic test? Manufacturers have many ways to determine the shelf life of a test, or how long it can be trusted to produce an accurate result. The most accurate way is a real-time stability test. For a product with a proposed 12-month shelf life, for example, a manufacturer will store it for 13 months, and then test its performance.
Read more on livemint.com
