Nearly 40M rapid COVID-19 tests unused in Alberta as expiry dates loom

Alberta has close to 40 million COVID-19 rapid antigen tests in its stockpile and they're all set to expire within a few months. Those that go unused will be trashed, the provincial government has confirmed.

According to the province, of the 6.7 million kits stashed in a central warehouse, 760,000 expire on Jan. 1 and the rest will expire by March.

Each kit contains between five and 25 tests for a total of 39,621,105 individual tests.

"From my understanding, these test kits are from the original batch that was purchased originally, a couple of years ago and we're just kind of going through them still," said Randy Howden, president of the Alberta Pharmacists' Association.

"At some point, those kits probably will need to be disposed of. I can't imagine them working too far past their expiry dates. But, of course, we do need more information on that."

According to Alberta Health, the free test kits, supplied by the federal government, will be discarded once they expire, following guidelines for the disposal of medical waste.

The stockpile of rapid antigen tests, which are stored and distributed from a centralized Alberta Health Services' warehouse, are still available to pharmacies, continuing care homes and primary care providers.

While the province did not provide further details on the disposal of the test kits, it said pharmacies have been reminded there is stock available.

"That's a lot of landfills full of tests," said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist with the University of Alberta.

She'd like to see further analysis done to determine if the tests could be used beyond their expiry date. Saxinger said older tests may be less sensitive. The biggest concern would be false negatives, rather than false positives, she noted.

"Unless more information comes forward about whether the tests perform reasonably — like they're revalidated after the expiry date — I can see why maybe they wouldn't want to give them out anymore," she said.

BTNX Inc., one of the key manufacturers, said Rapid Response boxes with a reference code listed on the box as COV-19C25 have a standard shelf life of 24 months (from the manufacturing date) and should not be used beyond the expiry date stamped on the box.

These kits make up a significant proportion of Alberta's stockpile.

The company was authorized to extend the expiry dates on other batches of tests. Those have a reference code listed on the box as COV-19CSHC5.