The US Food and Drug administration, two plus years into the COVID-19 pandemic, is still using emergency use authorization in order to authorize drugs and tests for COVID-19 treatment and diagnostic uses. On Friday April 15th of 2022 The US Food and Drug administration granted an emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 test that spots the chemical compounds in the breath. This new COVID-19 breathalyzer test is called the InspectIR COVID-19 breathalyzer.
It is portable, roughly the size of a large briefcase, and can be used at mobile testing sites, schools, doctors offices, and health departments. It has the potential to be placed in airports, train stations, and bus depots. “It waits to be seen how widely this will be adopted,” Dr. Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists, said. It takes 3 minutes for the InspectIR COVID-19 breathalyzer test to identify if there is five different compounds which allegedly or associated with SARS CoV-2 infection.
The US Food and Drug Administration said that the InspectIR breathalyzer can accurately identify over 91% of positive COVID-19 cases. Additionally, it identified nearly 100% of negative COVID-19 cases. The US Food and Drug Administration stressed however that a positive test result should be confirmed with a follow-up PCR test. The same PCR test that was deemed unreliable in the past for detecting COVID-19.
A study of the InspectIR Breathalyzer found it accurately identified more than 91% of positive samples and nearly 100% of negative samples.
It is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggagehttps://t.co/QOptYXe9zR— COVID19 😷 💉 (@V2019N) April 14, 2022
The InspectIR breathalyzer test for COVID-19 is seen as more user friendly and more likely to be accepted by the test and vaccine hesitant populations. The FDA approved it under the emergency use authorization act even though it appears COVID-19 cases are going down. One has to wonder under what emergency situation we are in, in order to approve this portable InspectIR breathalyzer Test for COVID-19.
The InspectIR breathalyzer test for COVID-19 comes out as there are more calls for testing. With so many people already vaccinated and boosted why is it necessary to test even more and to use different means? Additionally, why is it necessary to have a follow-up PCR test if the breath inspect IR breathalyzer test says that someone is positive for COVID-19? Especially when you take into consideration that the PCR test has been unreliable in the past.
Furthermore, will they start expecting us to test before we get on every plane, on every train, every bus, go into every store, into every doctor’s office, and before a child enters the school doors every morning now that they have this portable breathalyzer test? This appears to be just another way to strip away personal autonomy and to force further compliance even though COVID-19 cases have been steadily decreasing for several months.
Meanwhile, mainstream media can only praise the new league authorized under emergency use measures InspectIR breathalyzer test for COVID-19. Doctor Jeff Sharon director of the FDA’s Center for devices and radiological health said, the agency’s authorization “is yet another example of the rapid innovation occurring with diagnostic tests for COVID-19.” What no one seems to ask is why we need another test or at what cost to freedom are we willing to sacrifice to beat a virus.