Alberta is bringing in more rapid COVID-19 tests as millions destined to be tossed
CBC
With Alberta's stockpile of rapid COVID-19 tests about to expire, the province is working to bring in more supply.
According to Alberta Health, five million rapid antigen test kits, each containing at least five individual tests, are set to expire in March and will be discarded.
Another large stash of tests that expired Jan. 1 have already been tossed. In November, the province told CBC News that 760,000 boxes were in a central warehouse with that expiry date.
At Cambrian Pharmacy in Calgary, pharmacist Mathieu Giroux said that while demand is not nearly as high as it once was, he is still placing regular orders for rapid COVID tests.
But lately, some of his customers are choosing to wait when they realize the limited shelf life left on the current stock.
"Some people don't want them because the expiration is short," said Giroux.
They want to have them on hand, but since they're expiring in less than a few weeks or a month, they're just going to pass for now."
CBC News reached out to the province to find out what it plans to do once its stockpile is depleted.
"Alberta Health is currently working with the federal government to receive additional COVID-19 rapid antigen tests with longer expiry dates, ranging from September to December 2024," an Alberta Health spokesperson said in an email.
"The tests will begin arriving in Alberta [in the] next few weeks."
The shipments are expected to include the BTNX, Panbio, Artron and Roche brands.
According to the province, rapid tests will be provided free of charge through participating community pharmacies, until mid-December, as long as supplies last.
Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, who has studied the use of rapid antigen tests, is disappointed to hear so many tests have gone unused and will be discarded in Alberta.
"These could have been used in other parts of the world where there are no tests," said Pai, associate professor in the department of medicine at McGill University and a senior research scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
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