Free fast COVID tests readily available in Saskatchewan, but rare in Alberta. Why? | The Canadian News

Free fast COVID-19 tests are hard – if not impossible – to come if you are a member of the general public in Alberta.

While schools provided students and staff with certain test kits and rapid tests for the last few months of 2021 were available to high-risk institutions and employers, the free quick test kits for the ordinary Albertan ran out.

The “where to get test kits” page on the Alberta Health website reads: “Unfortunately, there is no availability for rapid antigen testing at pharmacies in Alberta.”

On December 17, the provincial government in Alberta announced that every resident would be able to pick up a free package of five quick tests every two weeks.

There were long queues at participating pharmacies that Friday morning, with some running out of stock within hours.

In one province to the east, however, free rapid tests are still very accessible.

In Saskatchewan, the test kits are still provided free of charge at libraries, some grocery stores and gas stations, select trading rooms, as well as at vaccination clinics or PCR testing sites.

So, why the difference in availability?

The federal government has said it has been providing hundreds of millions of free speed tests to provinces and territories since October 2020. By the end of 2021, more than 120 million speed tests had been delivered to provinces, the Federal Health Minister’s office said.

Before January, the tests were distributed to provinces and territories to meet their individual requests, the federal government said. Now, “as requested by the provinces and territories, these tests will be available to each jurisdiction, and will be awarded on a per-capita basis.”

According to the federal government, when it comes to rapid test distribution so far, BC has received about 5.2 million, Alberta has received 18.8 million (16 million and 1.8 million “currently in development,” according to the province), Saskatchewan received 16.4. million and Nova Scotia received 10 million.

That means Nova Scotia has about 10 kits per person, Saskatchewan has almost 14 kits per person, while Alberta has just over four per person.

Alberta’s health minister, Jason Copping, said on Tuesday that Saskatchewan had opened access to tests to the public earlier than Alberta did.

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“We have sharpened our rapid testing program for employers and for organizations to be able to test employees in critical environments and that program was underway for a number of months last year,” he said.

“We opened a public program in December last year.

“Unfortunately, from January, the federal government, given the increased demands, even though we had backdated orders from December … indicated to us that they were going to give it on a per-population basis.”

It was then that the province decided to buy an additional 10 million speed tests on its own, Copping said. But there were challenges with supply chain shortages and shipping delays, he added.

“Saskatchewan earlier than us managed a public system with public access to tests, that may explain part of it,” Copping said.

“We started our public program in December (and) asked for additional tests from the federal government. We did not receive all.

“We have a lot more tests that will appear by the end of this month.”

The NDP opposition believes Alberta could have had as many as 25 million more free quick tests if the UCP government responded to federal procurement offers last fall.

While Saskatchewan took advantage of the federal offer to start purchases before Christmas, Alberta did not order additional tests, the NDP said.

Now the NDP is asking for transparency from the UCP: a breakdown of rapid-test deployment, expected arrival dates for more tests and where they will be awarded.

At least one Edmonton pharmacist agrees that the shortage of free rapid tests is likely because the county was slower to respond.

“I believe in Alberta, we just ordered late. We were not (the) first or second or third province, ”said Ghada Hagag, pharmacy manager and owner of All Care Pharmacy.

“It’s stock. It’s storage … When you are last in line, you will get whatever is left. ”

She said she has patients who call every week and ask if the pharmacy still has tests or any new information.

“We do not know exactly whether we will get it again or not,” Hagag said. “We have no exact time for the shipment.

“The new thing now is that people are asking if they can buy the kit.”

Hagag also heard that Albertans asked friends and family members in other provinces to post quick tests to them.

“We have families who sent it via Canada Post. They get some from BC and some from Saskatchewan.

“If families can talk, I say to the bigger people, why can’t you talk? This is the equity.

“I feel their frustration,” she said. “It makes no sense.”

Hagag is optimistic that this shipping delay will be resolved soon, just as the shortages of paper towels, disinfectants and face masks were earlier in the pandemic.

“It’s just a question and the production rate. I think it’s just a matter of time. “