Philadelphia Issues Recall for At-Home COVID-19 Tests

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia area residents who have received Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Tests from the city health department are being asked to check the lot numbers on those tests, and to discard any marked with lot numbers COV2110012.

Officials with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said on Friday that a routine shelf-life check of tests turned up the invalid lot number, and subsequent testing by an independent lab has shown the tests are not authentic.

In all, roughly 105,000 test kits received by the health department from a long-time supplier were found to be invalid, but not before an untold number of the tests were sent directly to community partner organizations by the vendor.

The health department said it believes it directly distributed about 4,000 of the bogus tests.

Officials with the department said that as soon as the tests were confirmed to be invalid, all those remaining on its shelves were removed from distribution. 

The department is currently working to notify community organizations and other partners that may have received them.

City residents finding they have received the invalid tests can pick up replacement tests from any one of five health department resource hubs, officials said.

“One of the most important things that Philadelphians can do to prepare their families for the fall and winter COVID season is to have at-home testing kits on-hand,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole in a written statement. 

“It’s important to have faith in those tests, so we want to make sure that every test out there is valid and correct. That’s why we are working to make sure that our community partners and the public are aware of this recall,” she said. “Because not only should you have tests at home in case someone is feeling under the weather, but you should have faith that those tests can correctly diagnose you. 

“If you don’t have any COVID tests at home for the next time you or a family member aren’t feeling well, you can pick up free tests at any of our five resource hubs,” Bettigole said.

“The city health department is currently conducting a full inventory check of all COVID-19 tests in stock to ensure that they are valid; and developing new procedures to confirm lot numbers and expiration dates prior to shipment from our vendor.” 

The department is working with the vendor to replace all invalid tests, and it has also notified other health departments across the country to be aware of this problem and to check their stores.

Between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, the health department distributed more than 285,000 COVID-19 tests at mobile testing units, resource hubs and through the test kit distribution program, which provides tests to community-based organizations, event organizers and venues.

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