OTTAWA – The federal government has an inventory of 39 million additional immediate tests for COVID-19 and is struggling to dispose of them by throwing them away, according to an internal Health Canada memo.
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As the Omicron variant of the virus began spreading across Canada in late 2021, the government temporarily purchased immediate antigen tests, distributing most of them to provinces so others could protect themselves from the virus at home.
Now that far fewer people are presented to the brain-tickling sensation of an outdoor COVID-19 test in hospitals and other fitness centers, it turns out the government has more than it knows how to do.
“Recognizing the volumes of tests at issue and the challenge of disposing of such an amount for a limited period of time, it is expected that it will be necessary to dispose of expired tests,” Canada’s deputy health minister wrote in a memorandum signed March 25.
The memorandum received through federal data access legislation.
Rapid tests were considered vital and valuable in early 2022, as standard testing capacity is reserved only for certain cases in most provinces. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canada has spent approximately $5 billion on immediate testing.
Even after the initial surge in Omicron infections subsided, the government continued to accumulate evidence in case the country faced another large wave of infections.
That wave never came, and as public fitness restrictions were gradually lifted, the government walked away with a stockpile of some 93 million tests as of March 21.
As of July 25, inventory remains at more than 90 million, Health Canada said in a statement.
The provinces and territories now have sufficient resources to conduct eight tests on each and every Canadian. The federal fitness branch plans to keep up to $55 million in reserve to prepare for the next emergency, leaving an additional $39 million by the end of March.
Staff advised several tactics for downloading evidence, but each presents its own challenges. The biggest impediment is their short lifespan: they only last one or two years.
“In practice, providing evidence with less than 8 to 12 months of shelf life can present challenges,” the memo says, the express reasons for this being drafted.
So far, no tests have been removed, the branch says 2. 1 million tests are damaged, expired or deemed “non-compliant” and cannot be distributed.
Another 38,722 people are expected to die in August and September, according to the memo. Most tests will expire in 2024.
The branch advised sending the tests to countries that want them, or even potentially paying brands to resume testing.
To date, none of those things have happened.
In a written statement, Health Canada said part is given to nonprofits, public establishments and charities through GCDonate, a component of the government’s online surplus site.
They are also shared between departments for worker programs.
“The Government of Canada has also actively engaged with the World Health Organization, the Canadian Red Cross, other non-governmental organizations and personal foundations for greater global calling and exploring the feasibility of foreign giving opportunities,” the branch said in the statement. . .
“A financially and environmentally sound disposition will only be possible when all implementation and divestment features have been exhausted and testing is not eligible for distribution. “
In the memo, he indicated that they planned to propose a plan to begin disposing of the unused evidence for the Vice Minister’s approval.
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