it s not only the federal government s fault. there was a low demand from the public. and remember, the states had about $30 billion in testing money and before i left, we put these tests in what s called the gsa schedule, so every state could buy as many as they want for $5 a test, and they didn t do that. the federal government didn t do that. and the industry cratered. that s why we re behind right now. we have to play catch-up. let s use those 500 million strategically to protect the elderly and vulnerable and make sure everybody who can get the oral drugs from merck and pfizer can get them. i also learned from vanity fair maybe something i should have already known, that in europe there are 200 different types of rapid tests. they sell for about $1.50 and they re plentiful. what are they doing that we re not doing? so this is a regulatory issue. and dr. mina has spoken about this and i certainly worked from inside the administration. there are regulatory standards
were on a pace to be at a level of rapid tests at least 2 to 300 million by april, probably half a billion by june. we had made the investments. but, you know, you ve got to constantly invest. it s not only the federal government s fault. there was a low demand from the public. and remember, the states had about $30 billion in testing money and before i left, we put these tests in what s called the gsa schedule, so every state could buy as many as they want for $5 a test, and they didn t do that. the federal government didn t do that. and the industry cratered. we have to play catch-up. let s use those 500 million strategically to protect the elderly and vulnerable and make sure everybody who can get the oral drugs from merck and pfizer can get them. i also learned from vanity fair that in europe there are 200 different types of rapid tests. they sell for about $1.50 and they re plentiful. what are they doing that we re not doing?