Covid-19 has not gone away and testing and treatment are still vital to protecting New Zealand from the pandemic.
However, the government has now found itself sitting on millions of expired tests. They were bought in 2022 with a different environment and different version of the disease, but have not been used.
New Zealand Health is sitting on nearly two million expired rapid antigen tests and another 16 million that are nearly at their expiry date.
The Rats tests were bought to provide people the opportunity to test themselves, but changes in the nature of the epidemic and responses meant they were not used.
The unused tests are worth about $160 million.
Health New Zealand is trying to work out what to do with the tests.
A Health spokesperson said large quantities of Rats were first purchased in late 2021 and early 2022 during the Delta outbreak and in preparation for the new strain that became Omicron.
Rats tests were then in short supply and it was expected they would become central to testing at home and work.
There was a lot of pressure to re-open its borders allow New Zealand to remove restrictions.
The spokesperson said Te Whatu Ora was “actively scanning the market” for ways to promote “re-purposing, alternative uses or recycling” of the tests.
“When the Rats were purchased, there was a global shortage and no crystal ball to know how much we would need – and it was important that we were prepared for a variety of different possibilities,” Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said.
Rats tests still play a vital role in detecting the virus and protecting families. As recent reports have shown, people in New Zealand are still dying from the disease.
For information on how to get a free Rats test and how to use them, go to https://covid19.govt.nz/testing-and-isolation/covid-19-testing/how-to-get-a-covid-19-test/#where-to-get-a-test
