Speaking during a hearing in front of the Senate Health Committee Tuesday morning, Health and Human Services Preparedness and Response Assistant Secretary Dawn O'Connell revealed the Biden Administration has not signed new contracts with Wuhan coronavirus testing manufacturers and producers. Instead, they're working with warehouses already storing millions of tests that need to be distributed.
"Why should we have any confidence in these contracts if in fact we are dealing with companies that don't manufacture anything and can you assure me that the tests are coming in, are not coming from China?" Ranking Member Richard Burr asked.
"These tests, what we initially did to be able access tests for the initial shipments that will go [out] towards the end of January, we worked with warehouses to see where additional tests were stored and assessed that additional capacity and are bringing that capacity to bear for these initial tests that are going out which is why you're seeing contracts with warehouses and not with test manufacturers," O'Connell said.
"So is what you're telling me is that they've got 50 million tests in warehouses in the United States and all we did was access the inventory?" Ranking Member Richard Burr asked.
"That is my understanding," O'Connell said.
Senator Burr: "Can you assure me that the tests that are coming in are not coming from China?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 11, 2022
"Is what you're telling me they've got 50 million tests in warehouses and all we did was access that inventory?" pic.twitter.com/pyOsp9kOQK
O'Connell did not answer the question about whether new tests would be manufactured and imported from China.
As Omicron continues to rage, with hundreds-of-thousands of new infections, Americans can't find tests at local pharmacies and often times after standing in hours long lines at clinics.
The Biden administration announced plans three weeks ago to mail 500 million home tests to Americans who sign up to receive them. The government website isn't set up yet and contracts for distribution were just signed this week, putting delivery of tests to people's homes long after the latest variant of the virus peaks.
Doocy: "[T]ests…require people to go somewhere & either make an appointment or wait in line....You guys said you were going to mail free tests to people that need them. [Biden's] talking about a winter of severe illness & death…Why weren’t you guys not doing more to prepare[?]" pic.twitter.com/eA4yCJ94MJ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 10, 2022