FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (March 17, 2021) – BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. government’s plan to invest $10 billion in COVID-19 testing in American schools:

Dave Hickey, president of Life Sciences for BD said, “Committing $10 billion for COVID-19 testing in America’s schools is a critical investment in getting all schools open and back to in-person learning.

“As a manufacturer of both PCR and antigen tests, BD understands the strengths of both approaches to testing. For testing programs administered by health care providers in schools, antigen tests are ideal because they are easy to use, low cost, don’t require sophisticated lab equipment or personnel, can be performed in a CLIA waiver point-of-care setting and most importantly, can provide a test result in 15 minutes when students are suspected of COVID-19, which allows for immediate isolation and other protective measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

“In addition, some antigen tests, like the one used on the BD Veritor™ Plus System provide additional benefits, including a definitive positive or negative digital readout and enabling data transfer to the cloud for ease of reporting test results to public health officials. The ease of use and immediate results provided by antigen tests would allow our educators to focus on teaching, not testing.”

For more information about using the BD Veritor™ Plus System in a school setting, visit https://bdveritor.bd.com/en-us/test-settings/school-care.

# # #

About BD

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 70,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ and Twitter @BDandCo.

Contacts:

Troy Kirkpatrick                                                                        Kristen M. Stewart, CFA
BD Public Relations                                                                   BD Investor Relations
858.617.2361                                                                          201.847.5378        
troy.kirkpatrick@bd.com                                                          kristen.stewart@bd.com