A month after the major pre-Christmas stockouts, the shortage of rapid COVID-19 tests in Quebec could soon be a thing of the past with the delivery Tuesday of 600,000 boxes of tests, distributed in the most pharmacies, and a discount already started in primary schools.
The list of customers waiting for a box of rapid tests from pharmacist Benoit Morin shrunk over the deliveries in January, going from 400 names “to around 50” currently.
“Things are calming down in the pharmacy. I think the supply problem, [cette] week, it’s going to be behind us,” says the man who is also president of the Quebec Association of Proprietary Pharmacists enthusiastically.
Slight delays in truck delivery mean that some pharmacies will only receive their share of the last shipment of 3 million rapid tests delivered to Quebec by the federal government on Wednesday. This is the third delivery to pharmacies since the beginning of the year, each time of the same quantity.
Soon in high school
The count of rapid tests that arrived in Quebec in January now stands at more than 12 million, out of the 31.5 million promised by Ottawa at the height of the national shortage.
Three-quarters of these tests (9 million units, or 1.8 million boxes) went to pharmacies. The rest (3.6 million tests) were sent to the school network for distribution to primary schools. Montreal students have already started taking some home since last week.
The small screening tool must also enter high school, confirms the Federation of School Service Centers of Quebec.
These tests are “expected soon” in schools. In elementary schools, the tests have been distributed in packs of five, but in secondary schools, they will be made available to Montreal students for testing on school grounds.
“A pupil who develops symptoms during the day will be able to take a rapid test at school, as will the staff of these schools. In light of the result, he will have to respect the isolation instructions that apply to his situation, ”explains Alain Perron, spokesperson for the Center de services scolaire de Montréal.
Not enough yet
The frequency of arrivals of rapid tests in Quebec is not enough for the shortage to be declared over, however nuance Hugues Mousseau, the general manager of the Quebec Association of Pharmacy Distributors.
“As we speak, I am not ready to say that we are meeting demand,” he says.
The 1.8 million kits of five BTNX Rapid Response tests distributed in pharmacies since the beginning of January or in the process of being distributed are very far from allowing a box to be given to each of the seven million Quebecers over fourteen years, calculates Mr. Mousseau.
According to him, the shortage of rapid tests will not be over until Quebec has sufficient stocks to meet the demands of pharmacies, as is the case for other products.
“In the case of rapid tests, as soon as we receive them in the distribution centers, we leave them on the loading dock, and within a few hours, we split the pallets to send them in more than 1900 pharmacies in Quebec. We don’t have time to put the rapid tests in our inventories as they have already left. »
In addition, Quebecers lucky enough to have gotten their hands on one of the 900,000 boxes of rapid tests sold in pharmacies before Christmas now have the right to pick up a second box free of charge. Pharmacist Benoit Morin, however, invites the population to be parsimony. “If you haven’t used your first box, there’s no need to renew it. »
The Quebec government expects to receive just one more order for three million tests in kits of five by the end of January. The head of distribution, Daniel Paré, also complained of not knowing what to expect for the following months.
None of the millions of tests ordered by the Quebec government itself have yet arrived. The company MedSup Medical, which has committed to delivering 10 million self-tests in January, is continuing its efforts with Health Canada for the approval of its technology, purchased in China. Its general manager, Keith Éthier, confirmed to the Duty that a meeting with the federal authorities on this subject was scheduled for Tuesday.
With Marco Fortier