WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his strategy to fight the Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants over the winter, including free and insurer-funded at-home COVID-19 testing and new requirements for international travelers.
The U.S. government will require private health insurers to reimburse their 150 million customers for 100% of the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests, administration officials said, and make 50 million more tests available free through rural clinics and health centers for the uninsured.
“We’re going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” Biden said at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, while warning that infections will rise this winter.
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“The actions I’m announcing are ones that all Americans can rally behind and should unite us in the fight against COVID-19,” he said.
The administration is urging all eligible Americans to get vaccinated or booster shots to fight Omicron, which is spreading quickly around the world, and will increase family vaccination sites and expand availability at pharmacies.
Less than 60% of the U.S. population, or 196 million people, have been fully vaccinated, one of the …….