Health Canada loses $20 million in pharmaceutical products due to 'temperature-control' issue
The Public Health Agency of Canada blamed temperature fluctuations in some freezer units for $20 million worth of pharmaceutical products being wasted.
On Thursday's live stream, Tamara Ugolini and Alexa Lavoie reacted to new reporting that shows the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) lost over $20 million worth of pharmaceutical products this year due to poor temperature-control.
The products that were wasted include lab equipment and vaccines that were being held in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile. Health Canada, citing national security concerns, would not comment on the products held by the stockpile, such as specific vaccine types.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel's director of communications, Guillaume Bertrand, released a statement acknowledging the blunder.
“While this incident is unfortunate, PHAC is ensuring the NESS is equipped appropriately to fulfill its mission, including protecting critical vaccine supply,” the statement reads in part.
Tamara questioned whether any of the lost pharmaceutical products could be Covid vaccines due to the temperature requirements for some of them.
"What this makes me think and wonder is if it had to do with the Covid vaccines. Because we know that some of them had to be kept at such a specific and low refrigeration temperature that I would wager a bet that wasn't being upheld with some of the storage capacity stuff, and a bunch of them had to be thrown out as a result," she said.
Alexa condemned the government for not only allowing tens of millions worth of taxpayer funds to be wasted, but also for seemingly not holding anyone accountable for the incompetence.
"Nobody will face any consequences for who actually didn't preserve correctly the pharmaceutical products. It's not just one dollar, it's twenty-million dollars from taxpayers that is being thrown into the garbage," she said.
Conservative health critic Dan Mazier is calling for a committee investigation to uncover exactly why Health Canada lost $20 million in products from the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-11-14 19:37:41 -0500Like other bureaucrats, Health Canada workers don’t seem to care that it’s OUR tax money they’re wasting.