A scientist's rapid COVID tests never made it to the public. Here's how that shaped the pandemic

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https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2022/01/13/why-a-cheap-rapid-covid-test-never-made-it-to-consumers

A scientist's rapid COVID tests never made it to the public. Here's how that shaped the pandemic

January 13, 2022
Meghna Chakrabarti
Paige Sutherland

In March 2020, right at the start of the COVID pandemic, an MIT scientist and her team developed a cheap, rapid COVID test. It provided results in just 15 minutes.

But the test never made it to shelves.

"It's just tragic that so much capacity in terms of science is being wasted sitting in a lab or in a basement," Irene Bosch says. "It could have been a different story."

And it could have made all the difference in some of America's hardest hit communities.

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On edit, link to ProPublica article:

https://www.propublica.org/article/this-scientist-created-a-rapid-test-just-weeks-into-the-pandemic-heres-why-you-still-cant-get-it'

This Scientist Created a Rapid Test Just Weeks Into the Pandemic. Here’s Why You Still Can’t Get It.

by Lydia DePillis
Dec. 21, 2021, 5 p.m. EST

Irene Bosch developed a quick, inexpensive COVID-19 test in early 2020. The Harvard-trained scientist already had a factory set up. But she was stymied by an FDA process experts say made no sense.

[...]