The best way to use an at-home antigen test is to wait three days after being exposed to a verified case, read the instructions well and swab both the throat and the nose, the Health Ministry said Monday in a post circulated on social media.
Last week, Israel changed its testing policy, reserving PCRs – the most accurate type of tests, which need to be processed in a lab – to individuals over 60 and other at-risk groups. Since then, there has been a lot of criticism because antigen tests are less sensitive, and therefore people risk being misdiagnosed.Earlier in the day, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health Service, made a similar recommendation in an interview with Army Radio.“In order to increase their sensitivity, we will from now on recommend swabbing the throat and the nose,” she said. “It’s not what the manufacturer instructs, but we are instructing this.”However, the recommendation goes against the advice of the US Food and Drug Administration, which has said manufacturers’ instructions should still be followed and that any incorrect use of throat swabs could pose a safety risk.
FACT: When it comes to at-home rapid antigen #COVID19 tests, those swabs are for your nose and not your throat. https://t.co/WpgTKrGV4q pic.twitter.com/eyZHADezYB
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) January 7, 2022