Abbott Maker of BinaxNOW, Rapid Covid Tests Told Factory to Destroy Inventory

The New York Times– For weeks in June and July, workers at a Maine factory making one of America’s most popular rapid tests for Covid-19 were given a task that shocked them: take apart millions of the products they had worked so hard to create and stuff them into garbage bags. Soon afterward, Andy Wilkinson, a site manager for Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer, stood before rows of employees to announce layoffs. The company canceled contracts with suppliers and shuttered the only other plant making the test, in Illinois, dismissing a work force of 2,000. “The numbers are going down,” he told the workers of the demand for testing, saying it wasn’t their fault. “This is all about money.”

© Abbott, BinaxNOW, a rapid test made by Abbott, can provantigen ide results in 15 minutes.

As virus cases in the U.S. plummeted this spring, so did Abbott’s Covid-testing sales. But now, amid a new surge in infections, steps the company took to eliminate stock and wind down manufacturing are proving untimely — hobbling efforts to expand screening as the highly contagious Delta variant rages across the country. Nick Bit: In July when i realized that the Delta Mutation was out of control and our vaccines were diminishing in effectiveness i panicked. That is when besides sending out our CoronaVit supplement to subscribers I frantically tried to get test kits. They had to have FDA approval our I could not import them because they had no approval and frankly all the made in India and China crap I tested was should we say deficient. I settled on the BinaX Now test kits after Sarah was tested at the airport with this kit. I bought, paid for and ordered 1000 kits… And it was hell to get them to you. I still have another 1000 kits on back order and less then 200 in inventory . We put together a bonus package with test kits and CoronaVit supplements or ULPA nano filters and masks. We are loosing money on every order. But its not about the money… I trade for that. Click link below to see offers. SEE DISCOUNT OFFERS ON BINAX NOW CORONA TEST KITS

Demand for the 15-minute antigen test, BinaxNOW, is soaring again as people return to schools and offices. Yet Abbott has reportedly told thousands of newly interested companies that it cannot equip their testing programs in the near future. CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens locations have been selling out of the at-home version, and Amazon shows shipping delays of up to three weeks. Abbott is scrambling to hire back hundreds of workers. America was notoriously slow in rolling out testing in the early days of the pandemic, and the story of the Abbott tests is a microcosm of the larger challenges of ensuring that the private sector can deliver the tools needed to fight public health crises, both before they happen and during the twists and turns of an actual event. “Businesses crave certainty, and pandemics don’t lend certainty to demand,” said Stephen S. Tang, chief executive of OraSure Technologies, which in the midst of the testing slump in June received emergency F.D.A. authorization for its own rapid test, InteliSwab, long in development. But the company is not yet supplying retail stores. Abbott’s decisions have ramifications even beyond the United States. Employees in Maine, many of them immigrants from African countries, were upset at having to discard what might have been donated. Other countries probably could have used the materials, according to Dr. Sergio Carmona, chief medical officer of FIND, a nonprofit that promotes access to diagnostics. “This makes me feel sick,” he said of the destruction, noting that more than a dozen African nations have no domestic funds to buy Covid tests. In an interview, Robert B. Ford, Abbott’s chief executive, argued that the discarded materials — finished test cards — should not be viewed as tests. Kits for sale also include swabs, liquid buffer and instructions. Nick Bit: This ASSHOLE can eat shit and die!. Who the fuck does he think he is? In a pandemic he starved the market to fuck us on price. They will not supply me direct and i am paying first cost as much as $25 a kit plus rip off shipping rates.. FUCK HIM IN HIS ASS. Ill be damned if i can’t out fox a corporate prick greedy scum bag. I hate them all. I will get us all the test kits we need. Testing right now is our best option. Even after the 3rd booster shot you must not let your guard down… In February when they roll out the booster shot tailored to the 3 deadly variants they can we feel safe again. In the mean time fight fight fight and survive………… CLICK HERE TO SEE DISCOUNT OFFERS ON BINAXNOW TEST KITS