Maryland governor was offered coronavirus tests from domestic distributor while complaining about US supply: report

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) reportedly turned down offers for more than a million COVID-19 tests from authorized U.S. suppliers this spring while complaining he had no choice but to import 500,000 test kits from South Korea.

Emails obtained by The Washington Post reveal details about one domestic distributor’s attempts to offer the state test kits at a lower price than what was offered from South Korean manufacturers.

“We had a call, presented what we had, and basically, I heard nothing back,” Maryland-based sales consultant Rick Vohrer told the Post of an April 10 phone conversation between himself; the state health department’s deputy director of governmental affairs, Jake Whitaker; and representatives of a Florida-based group distributing tests manufactured by Co-Diagnostics.

After the phone call, Vohrer also sent an email reviewing the test kit’s emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.

Ten days after the call, Hogan announced the deal with the South Korean manufacturer, paying nearly $9.5 million for the shipment, or an average of around $18 per test.

Hogan said that he and his wife had been working on the deal since March 28.

Hogan wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post this week describing how he and his wife, Yumi Hogan, saw the purchase as a necessity because Maryland had “nowhere else to turn.” In the op-ed, he criticized the Trump administration for what he called inaction amid the pandemic.

“Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation’s response was hopeless; if we delayed any longer, we’d be condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death. So every governor went their own way,” Hogan wrote in the op-ed published Thursday. 

However, the Post reported that in April, U.S. manufacturers of kits could send tests to domestic labs by the millions. Experts said that testing was limited by other supplies at the time, including nasal swabs and chemical reagents for processing purposes.

Vohrer said he once again reached out to Whitaker following Hogan’s announcement, telling the Post that distributors had informed state officials they could supply the tests quickly and less expensively.

“The test I discussed with you is manufactured domestically, [by] Co-Diagnostics, and is $12.00 for the volume being purchased from Korea,” the email said, according to the Post. “Volumes above one million units can get even better pricing, as low as $10.”

Co-Diagnostics said they gained authorization to ship tests domestically in mid-March, with CEO Dwight Egan telling the Post that the company would have been “very anxious and capable” of processing a large order from the state.

Hogan spokesman Michael Ricci told The Hill that Maryland signed an agreement for tests with the South Korean company, LabGenomics, on April 2, 14 days after U.S. manufacturers said they could provide test kits domestically but before Vohrer’s pitch to Whitaker.

Co-Diagnostics, Ricci said, approached the government of Maryland one week after an agreement was met with LabGenomics.

“Thanks to our partnership with LabGenomics and South Korea, we had the opportunity to upgrade to better, faster tests, which is critical at a time when a number of states are experiencing testing shortages,” he said. “In this crisis, as diagnostic technology continues to make rapid advances, we are doing all we can to stay ahead of the game so we can find and fight the virus.”

—Updated at 4:48 p.m.