((Automatic translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Added details on testing program in section 2, information on COVID virus infections in section 5 and details from press conference) by Manas Mishra and Julie Steenhuysen
The U.S. government will provide free COVID-19 tests by mail starting in late September as it launches a fall campaign urging eligible Americans to get vaccinated against COVID, influenza and RSV, it said Friday.
Households can order up to four free tests at COVIDTests.gov, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services said at a news conference.
The popular free screening program has gone through several cycles since launching in January 2022.
This year, the government campaign is set for the fall and winter season, when temperatures drop and people stay indoors more, said Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS.
The number of hospitalizations increased from 1.1 per 100,000 people at the beginning of May to 4.4 at the beginning of August. The number of deaths also increased during this period.
Health officials said that while previous vaccines and infections provide some immunity, people should be vaccinated with the new vaccines, approved Thursday, and be tested.
“The virus continues to evolve faster than the flu virus,” said Mandy Cohen, director of the US CDC.
) “The severity of COVID is more like the flu, but if you compare the two viruses in terms of the number of hospitalizations and deaths, COVID (is) a more dangerous virus than the flu,” Ms. Cohen said.
She also noted that COVID was now endemic, but there were tools to protect the population.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved updated mRNA COVID vaccines that target a newly circulating variant to better protect the population as cold weather approaches.
The updated vaccines include those made by Pfizer PFE.N, its German partner BioNTech 22UAy.DE and Moderna MRNA.O. The FDA has not approved Novavax NVAX.O’s traditional protein-based vaccine and is still reviewing it.