Campus & Community

Important Update Regarding Vending Machine COVID Tests

Thursday, September 1, 2022, By News Staff

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

Ahead of the start of the fall semester, the University procured more than 80,000 COVID tests to ensure reliable access to self-testing resources for students, faculty and staff. Unfortunately, late yesterday we learned that a small number of the roughly 300 FlowFlex test kits sold to the University and distributed to date via campus vending machines may be counterfeit.

Upon learning of the potential of fraudulent tests in our supply, the University immediately took the following actions:

  1. Completed an inspection of the test kit inventory in all campus vending machines, to ensure those machines were stocked with authentic FlowFlex test kits.
  2. Inspected our current reserve supply of FlowFlex test kits (meaning the kits that have not yet been placed in a vending machine) to identify and remove any potentially counterfeit tests.

It appears that only a small subset of the FlowFlex test kits distributed through campus vending machines, prior to Aug. 31, 2022, were potentially counterfeit. However, the University will provide a free replacement to anyone who purchased a test kit at a vending machine prior to Sept. 1, 2022. Anyone seeking a replacement test kit should contact sucovidtesting@syr.edu.

It is important to note that the iHealth brand test kits distributed to students, faculty and staff free of charge as part of our return-to-campus efforts are NOT impacted. The iHealth test kits are authentic, accurate and can continue to be used. You can learn more about these tests and check the most current use-by date on the iHealth tests by visiting the iHealth website and entering the lot number found on the packaging.

I want to extend my deep appreciation to the faculty member who identified the potentially fraudulent test kit, and who took action to alert me immediately. Thanks to their quick action, our team was able to move with urgency to identify and dispose of any potentially fraudulent test kits in our campus supply. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,

J. Michael Haynie
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation