Chips, candy bar, or a COVID test? These are the decisions we'll be making as we step up to a vending machine.
Soon, in select cities across the country, the self-serve machines will be dispensing at home COVID-19 tests. Wellness 4 Humanity is behind the home test kits available to buy from a vending machine. The health company says the machines are expected to pop up in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Dallas by the end of the month.
Two types of coronavirus tests will be available. According to the company press release, the TRUSTPASS Rapid Antigen At-Home Test Kit, requiring a nasal swab, will return results in 15 minutes with “97.4% accuracy and 100% specificity, meaning false negatives are unlikely.” The other test kit, At-Home Saliva RT-PCR Test, will measure results through the collection of saliva. Customers will be issued a shipping label to use when sending the test sample to a lab. Results are available within two days with 99% accuracy.
Just don’t expect these vending machines to offer anything for $1.25 or less. Each of the COVID tests go for $149 and can be purchased via contactless mobile payment.
Wellness 4 Humanity CEO and co-founder Lian Nguyen Pham says “These vending machines are a significant milestone in helping to provide Americans with easier access to fast, highly accurate COVID-19 testing.”
Similar point-of-purchase machines have already been placed in heavily populated areas of Hong Kong and the U.K.