Credit FDA
#17,093
Last January the U.S. government announced that all American households were eligible to order 4 free at-home COVID test kits. A 2nd round of 4 test kits was offered in March, followed by a 3rd round of (8) test kits in May.
Two months ago, the government announced the Last Call For Free At-Home COVID Test Kits, and at that time I wrote:
You should be aware that the printed expiration dates on these, and previously shipped test kits are likely no longer valid. The FDA began authorizing extensions earlier this summer, with some kits now having as much as a 12-15 months `life'.
These extensions vary by manufacturer, and not every home test kit has been granted an extension. You'll need to go to the FDA website and check your kit(s), against their list.
My first batch of home test kits was originally set to expire in late July, but I was pleased to find that date had been moved back to October 26th. I checked back earlier this month, and that date had not budged, so I expected I would have to remove them from service soon.
But this morning I discovered that the original extension - published last summer - had been extended again by the FDA (on Oct 14th) to January 2023.
There are 23 manufacturers of test kits on the FDA list, and each manufacturer has produced multiple batches, meaning there are a lot of different expiration dates. The only way to know when your kits expire is to their batch number against the FDA list.
To see if the expiration date for your at-home OTC COVID-19 test has been extended, first find the row in the below table that matches the manufacturer and test name shown on the box label of your test.
- If the Expiration Date column says that the shelf-life is "extended," there is a link to "updated expiration dates" where you can find a list of the original expiration dates and the new expiration dates. Find the original expiration date on the box label of your test and then look for the new expiration date in the "updated expiration dates" table for your test.
- If the Expiration Date column does not say the shelf-life is extended, that means the expiration date on the box label of your test is still correct. The table will say "See box label" instead of having a link to updated expiration dates.
The FDA will update this table as additional shelf-life extensions are authorized.
Before you discard your COVID home test kits, it is always a good idea to double check to see if their expiration date has been extended again. The FDA is continually reviewing their performance, and additional extensions may be granted.
