While securing an antigen test is seemingly as elusive as a Santa Claus sighting in Canada as Christmas approaches, President Joe Biden announced the US government will provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits to help fight the omicron variant surging through the country, at the same increasing support for hospitals under strain and redoubling vaccination and boosting efforts.

Biden on Tuesday detailed major changes to his COVID-19 winter plan, his hand forced by the fast-spreading variant, whose properties are not yet fully understood by scientists. Yet his message was clear that the winter holidays could be close to normal for the vaccinated while potentially dangerous for the unvaccinated.

His pleas are not political, he emphasized, noting that Donald Trump has gotten his booster shot, and he said it’s Americans’ “patriotic duty” to get vaccinated.

“It’s the only responsible thing to do,” the president said. “Omicron is serious and potentially deadly business for unvaccinated people.”

Biden chastised social media and people on cable TV who have made misleading statements to discourage people from getting vaccinated.

The outbreak from this latest strain of the coronavirus has required the federal government to get more aggressive in addressing the wave of infections, but Biden promised a weary nation that there would not be a mass lockdown of schools or businesses.

“I know you’re tired, and I know you’re frustrated. We all want this to be over. But we’re still in it,” Biden said. “We also have more tools than we had before. We’re ready, we’ll get through this.”

Scientists don’t know everything about omicron yet, but they do know that vaccination should offer strong protection against severe illness and death. The variant has spread at such an alarming rate since it was identified in South Africa about a month ago that the Biden administration snapped into action to offer new tests and additional aid. Still more is needed, some medical experts said.

A cornerstone of the plan is for the government to purchase 500 million coronavirus rapid tests for free shipment to Americans starting in January. People will use a new website to order their tests, which will then be sent by US mail at no charge. The 500 million could be increased, depending on developments.

It marks a major shift for Biden, who earlier had called for many Americans to purchase the hard-to-find tests on their own and then seek reimbursement from health insurance. For the first time, the US government will send free COVID-19 tests directly to Americans, after more than a year of urging by public health experts.

Experts had criticized Biden’s initial buy-first, get-paid-later approach as unwieldy and warned that the US would face another round of testing problems at a critical time. Testing advocates point to nations including the UK and Germany, which have distributed billions of tests to the public and recommend people test themselves twice a week.

Meanwhile in Canada…

No such programs are in place in Canada, though the federal government and some provinces have distributed free tests to some organizations for regular workplace screening.

Last week, after intense public pressure, Ontario’s government released stockpiled rapid tests at various locations, including select liquor stores, which were snapped up within hours, leaving thousands of eager residents empty-handed. Other LCBO outlets attracted hundreds of people without having been issued kits, while other non-participating outlets took to posting notices on their doors to pre-emptively dissuade crowds.

In Ontario, securing a rapid test appointment through regular approved channels can take days (even reaching a drug store can prove futile), and receiving results taking several more.

Securing appointments for both testing and booster shots in the province has been likened to a “Hunger Games” free-for-all.

At the same time, amid complaints of price gouging (and selling free tests online), Ontario is investigating complaints of businesses or individuals reselling rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, with anyone caught doing so facing steep fines.

South of the border

Meanwhile, south of the border, the US federal government also plans to establish new testing sites and use the Defense Production Act to help manufacture more tests. The first new federally supported testing site will open in New York this week. The new sites will add to 20,000 already available. White House officials said they’re working with Google so that people will be able to find them by searching “free COVID test near me.”

Still, Biden’s testing surge would need to be supported by a further jump in production for all Americans to test at the recommended rate of twice weekly. The US would need 2.3 billion tests per month for everyone 12 and older to do that, according to the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s nearly five times the half-billion tests Biden will deploy.

In another prong to Biden’s amped-up plan, he is prepared to deploy an additional 1,000 troops with medical skills to assist hospitals buckling under the virus surge. Also, he is immediately sending federal medical personnel to Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Vermont. And there are plans to ready additional ventilators and protective equipment from the national stockpile, expanding hospital resources.

As a backstop, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency will deploy hundreds of ambulances and paramedic teams so that if one hospital fills up, it can transport patients to open beds in another. Ambulances are already headed to New York and Maine, and paramedic teams are going to New Hampshire, Vermont and Arizona.

But vaccination remains the main defense since it can head off disease in the first place. The government will support multiple vaccination sites and provide hundreds of personnel to administer shots. New rules will make it easier for pharmacists to work across state lines to administer a broader range of shots.

Some prominent experts said that Biden’s new actions are a step in the right direction, but that he hasn’t gone far enough, given the risks of infections and hospitals being overwhelmed.

Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, said the administration “finally sees the light” with Biden’s plan to ship 500 million tests, but “we need to pull out all the stops, and we’re not doing that still.”