Quebec must receive three million rapid screening tests as of Wednesday at the end of the day. However, it will be necessary to wait until Monday before finding them on the shelves of pharmacies.
“The MSSS has made acquisitions to fill the gap and, thus, the first delivery of 3 million tests acquired by Quebec scheduled for January 5 at the end of the day will be immediately sent to wholesalers and in the following days, distributed to pharmacies », Specifies the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Robert Maranda.
The Quebec Association of Pharmacist Owners has doubts about the arrival of these tests on time. Its president, Benoît Morin, had not yet had confirmation of deliveries, Tuesday at the end of the day. The memory of the mask race observed at the start of the pandemic remains fresh in his memory.
“I’ll believe it when I see them,” he says. The whole world wants these tests and my experience is that it is a voracious market: it is likely that suppliers still want to be paid cash. ”
If the rapid tests ordered by Quebec do indeed arrive on Wednesday, distribution to wholesalers should begin the next day. The three million units will be distributed according to demand in each region.
Pharmacies will receive the tests no earlier than Monday.
By the end of the week, it’s not worth going to the pharmacy: no one will have one.
“Rumor has it that boxes of 20 units are arriving,” adds Mr. Morin. It will therefore be necessary to divide each box into packs of five, photocopy the instructions so that each customer has a manual. It’s going to take a while. ”
He specifies that if “everything is bathed in oil”, customers will be able to get their hands on these tests from Monday. “If there are failures, it should be Tuesday,” he said.
The way to distribute these coveted tests varies among 1900 pharmacies in Quebec. Several of them have already drawn up waiting lists which can count several hundred names. As soon as the tests are received, they will go first to the people on the list.
Others allow boxes to be reserved online according to arrivals.
The scarcity of rapid screening tests is expected to fade during the month of January. The MSSS specifies that the federal government must restart its deliveries “over the next few days” and that they will continue “throughout the month of January.”
“We plan to continue distributing tests in pharmacies as the shipments arrive,” adds Robert Maranda.
“We expect to receive many more tests in January,” concludes Benoît Morin, president of the AQPP. There shouldn’t be the same accessibility issues anymore. ”