Thread by @ZiadFazel

#COVID19AB Rapid Antigen Self-Test Approvals 🧵
Health Canada v Europe

Premier Kenney continues to gaslight anyone who will listen on this topic. Today he did it in response to @JuliaWongCBC question around the 47:20 mark of today's COVID theatre.

He worked up the outrage to claim:
• usual distortion & deflection about federal deliveries
• Health Canada has only approved 5-6
• European regulators have approved over 60
• He has been asking feds since April 2020 to approve more tests

So let's look at these claims...

Of the 103 tests Health Canada has approved:
• 37 Point-of-Care Rapid Tests*
• 10 Self-Test*
• 27 Antigen Tests

I don't see where he is getting 6 from.

* some of these are PCR or serum

canada.ca/en/health-cana…

Health Canada has already purchased 8 different tests, and distributed 124m to the provinces at no cost.

canada.ca/en/public-heal…

Alberta has received over 14m of these 3 tests alone from the federal government:
• BTNX approved Feb 2021
• Abbott Panbio approved Oct and Dec 2020
• BD Veritor approved Oct 2021

canada.ca/en/health-cana…

The federal government has signed contracts for over 425m of 11 different tests.

At $2.99 billion in cost, that works out to $7.03 each.

How much is Kenney making us pay for 10m "emergency" tests?

"Emergency" but no delivery date for remaining 9m.

canada.ca/en/public-serv…

I knew the Premier was gaslighting to @gthomsonink.

Odd for a Premier to be so deep into these procurement details. It suggests political interference, maybe corruption.

He claimed over 60 in Europe "including many which are much more user friendly".

@gthomsonink So when I heard his complaint today about the feds not approving certain test(s) that have been approved in Europe..

(he didn't mention FDA so I figure they haven't approved them either)..

I suspected someone is trying to sell Kenney test(s) approved only in the EU.

Out of curiosity, I checked the other half of his gaslighting: European Approval.

Shocker!

Europe has decided not to approve rapid antigen self-tests.

So where is Kenney getting 60 from?

The number is Zero.

ec.europa.eu/health/sites/d…

What does this mean to you?

"The EU common list of antigen tests does not include rapid antigen self-tests. It only includes those rapid antigen tests that are conducted by trained healthcare personnel or trained operators where appropriate.."

ec.europa.eu/health/sites/d…

Having the feds purchase for the provinces gives volume pricing, and prevents provinces bidding against each other with our tax $$.

The feds already have Requests for Standing Offers, through non-partisan Public Services & Procurement Canada (PSPC).

canada.ca/en/public-serv…

Why would a supplier sell to Alberta, when they could sell to the feds? Maybe:
• Alberta is paying more
• Product is approved, but supplier is not reliable enough to be qualified
• like a broker who maybe got 1m, but now is on the spot market looking for 9m more at a profit.

Premier cracked me up when he sputtered about asking the feds since April 2020 to approve more rapid tests. @Dave_Khan and I have laughed about this.

Remember Alberta committing to Spartan Bioscience in April 2020 ahead of Health Canada approval?

"Turns out Health Canada was right to take its time testing Spartan’s technology last year. A new investor or owner, assuming one can be found, will now face even more skepticism."

You need both: approved product, and reliable supplier.

ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new…

Well, this was fun. We must do it again sometime, but I have to go to bed now.

Fact-checking the Gaslighter-in-Chief would take 24/7. I pick my spots.

But this has been going on for 2 weeks, and people are scared, being lied to and likely ripped off.

@threadreaderapp unroll

I’m just going to leave this here.

Well, lookie here.

AHS Board Meeting Minutes from 22 Dec 2021 reveal:
• up to $80m approved for COVID-19 rapid test kits
• from vendors **ALREADY ON** the Federal Government standing offer list for supply of Rapid Tests

This is colossally stupid.

albertahealthservices.ca/about/Page1394…

You're welcome to hear the recording of the ~5-min teleconference if you wish, but:
• all discussion had already occurred out of public view
• all board members had already agreed
• the vote was just a formality
• taking under 3 min to perform

I did not know of this Board meeting when I wrote ⤵️, but it is WORSE than I thought.
• Alberta is NOT expanding the supply base beyond vendors ALREADY UNDER CONTRACT TO THE FEDS
• From the list of federally approved products the feds are not already supplying for free.

No, it is much more stupid - perhaps unethical- for Kenney to instead:
• use AB Taxpayer $$ to bid against the feds for earlier delivery
• of rapid test kits the feds are already using 🇨🇦 Tax $$ to buy
• which the feds already supply for free to all provinces incl Alberta.

Health Minister Copping is well aware of this Zero-Sum game. All he + Kenney are doing with this "Every Man for Himself" strategy is:
• jacking up market price for everyone
• wasting AB taxpayer $$
• screwing up fed plans to supply all 🇨🇦equitably.

In his thread, Minister Copping claims:

"Alberta’s government has directly procured nearly 14 million tests for the province."

Kenney is claiming 10m tests.

The reality is $80m worth, and the more Alberta jacks up the price trying to beat the feds, the fewer tests we'll get.

The feds are trying to nail down deliveries of 140m tests to distribute fairly (per capita, like vaccine) across Canada in January.

Instead of when provinces request, because, eg Alberta:
• did not plan to use them
• point fingers now
• interfere now

globalnews.ca/news/8489323/t…

So my unsolicited advice to Premier @jkenney and Health Min @JasonCoppingAB - as it was with Shandro & Vanch masks, IFR Chlorine Masks, & ABTraceTogether is:
• STFU
• Work with the feds
• Stop wasting AB Taxpayer $$ on cronies and inferior products.

@picardonhealth @Lorian_H @UbakaOgbogu @CTV_AvisFavaro @NatashaFatah

For those of you unfamiliar w Request for Standing Offers (RFSO), a streamlined method of procurement, vendors are dependent on the buyer to behave ethically w multiple standing offers.

IMO, Alberta is interfering with this market.

buyandsell.gc.ca/policy-and-gui…

When I built this thread a few days ago, the feds had 11 different products under contract:
• 425m tests at $7.03 each

As of 14 Jan 2022 update, feds have 16 products under contract:
• 433m tests at $6.93 each

This is the power of working TOGETHER.

canada.ca/en/public-serv…

Feds transfer most $/capita for COVID-19 to AB:
• AB uses $80m to bid against Feds
• exclusively & explicitly from rapid test vendors under contract to Feds

@FilomenaTassi @jyduclos @cafreeland
@DuaneBratt @DavidMacCdn @trevortombe @andrew_leach

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

🤔This delivery schedule of 3m rapid tests/week seemed bogus when Kenney announced it.

Likely a fabrication to trick people into thinking Return to School on 10 January was safer than it is.

This global Demand>Supply problem didn't spring up overnight.

Since @AHS_media is the prov organization tasked with ordering these $80m of rapid tests from fed suppliers...

..it falls on AHS to confirm this is the delivery schedule they first contracted with supplier(s), then provided the Premier so he could say "scheduled to arrive."

On Thu 20 Jan, Premier Kenney's latest lies about rapid tests:
• "Health Dept" told him that US Gov did a "force majeure" 10 days ago on US Supplier under contract to AB
• ordered 1 billion tests from them and banned exports

(No evidence of this.)

And yet, despite this purported US hegemony, the Minister of that same "Health Dept" said they're still expecting:
• 3.5m rapid tests that week (last week)
• 4.5m this week

Wow. I guess the Global Supply/Demand situation isn't that bad after all.

You MAY have noticed we did not receive 3.5m (ANY) rapid tests last wk.

Unless Premier forgot to tell us about this while:
• he was ranting about US/Can vax mandate for cross-border truckers
• his staff were falsely depicting photos of empty shelves overseas as in Alberta

As you know, I only bother to fact-check Kenney when there are larger lessons to be learned, or clear implications of what he is really doing behind the gaslighting.

So let's look at the US rapid test approval & procurement, then compare to Canada, eh?

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

Per White House 14 Jan, USA (pop 332m)
• using Defence Production Act and big $$$ to stimulate production since Feb 2021
• 9 rapid tests approved
• 420m tests under contract

Per Gov of Canada 14 Jan (pop 38m)
• over 50 rapid tests approved
• over 433m tests under Contract

Look again at this colossally stupid decision to restrict AHS only to suppliers already under contract to Feds, so AHS is stuck bidding against Feds.

Why not allow AHS to buy any of the over 50 rapid tests approved by Health Canada?

Are Kenney & Copping setting up AHS to fail?

Rapid Antigen Tests + Medical Masks = GoA plan for safe return to school, and to contain Omicron. But:
• Tying AHS hands = GoA wants Albertans to experience GBD, not RAT.
• Sending kids BYD Non-Medical garbage instead of Medical Masks?

Unconscionable.

If I'm a supplier to the feds, w 10m RATs still avail from January production allocation, who am I selling to:
• Gov of Can w $3b budget for 433m tests at $7 ea?
• GoA w 80m budget, who claim they bought 14m at $5.72 each, and have been lying all month about why they're late?

Now I'm really curious about the first 1m rapid tests Alberta was able to directly procure.

Kenney's desperation allows an intermediary or broker to mark it up big, and book a tidy profit by year-end.

Who were those 1m tests purchased from?
What was the price?
Sole-sourced?