MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont is going to deliver 500,000 free rapid tests for COVID-19 using a system developed by the National Institutes of Health, the governor’s office says.

The program, details of which will become available next week, will serve as a pilot to help state officials assess a broader delivery system in which residents order tests online and have them delivered to their homes.

Gov. Phil Scott said Thursday it’s hoped that in the near future, rapid tests for COVID-19 will be readily available at local pharmacies for lower prices.

“But we need to bridge the gap between where we are today and where things will be in the months ahead,” Scott said in a statement.

This is similar to a system President Joe Biden has said the federal government will use to make rapid tests more readily available beginning later this month, but the Vermont program is in addition to the federal program.

Scott said the primary objective is to get tests into the field as efficiently as possible.

“As with every new program, there are going to be unanticipated challenges, the number of kits each household can order will be limited, it could take up to a week for them to be delivered, and we expect that they will go very, very quickly,” Scott said.

Additional details of the program will be announced next week.

The rapid test delivery program comes as the state is coping with a spike in cases of COVID-19.

Interim Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson said rapid, self-administered tests are another way to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s easy to perform these tests in the privacy of one’s home and have results within 10-15 minutes,” she said in a statement.