Question Period Note: NATIONAL EMERGENCY STRATEGIC STOCKPILE MANAGEMENT

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) manages the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile to support provinces and territories during emergencies. To bolster the response to COVID-19 and address the procurement and distribution needs in support of frontline health care, PHAC works with federal partners including Health Canada, National Research Council, Global Affairs Canada, the Department of National Defense, Public Services and Procurement Canada, Statistics Canada, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

• The Government of Canada continues to proactively distribute incoming medical supplies and equipment, such as personal protective equipment and vaccine supplies, to provinces and territories to support Canada’s COVID-19 response.
• Significant stockpiles of supplies are maintained in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile and are deployed in response to urgent requests for assistance from provinces and territories.

Budget 2022 key messages
• Budget 2022 proposes to invest $50 million in 2022-23 to support the operations of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.
• This funding will be used to help maintain the critical medical supplies, including personal protective equipment, so that Canada can continue to quickly respond to public health events and other emergencies.

If pressed on how the government of Canada is working to secure a sufficient quantity of PPE in Canada
• The Public Health Agency of Canada continues to work with provincial and territorial partners to monitor the sufficiency of National Emergency Strategic Stockpile inventories, and will take steps to address emerging supply gaps if required.

If pressed on NESS Inventory
• As of May 3, 2022, key supplies within the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile inventory include:
o N95 respirators and equivalents: 24 million units
o Surgical masks: 216 million units
o Face shields: 26 million units
o Nitrile gloves: 824 million pairs
o Disposable and reusable gowns: 137 million units
o Needles and syringes: 183 million units
• The Government of Canada continues to proactively replenish its inventory to secure sufficient quantities of supplies, including through multi-year contracts.
• In addition, the Government of Canada has procured enough first aid supplies, including band aids and swabs, to support the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

If pressed on domestic PPE manufacturing
• The following percentages of commodities procured by the Public Health Agency of Canada are domestically manufactured:
o Approximately 70% of N95 respirators. This percentage accounts for the 2 multi-year contracts with AMD Medicom and 3M Canada.
o 50% of surgical masks. This percentage accounts for the multi-year contract with AMD Medicom.
o 100% of face shields.
o 25% of disposable gowns.

If pressed on the disposal of PPE
• The Public Health Agency of Canada adheres to the Treasury Board Policy on Materiel Management, which sets out a lifecycle management continuum for sound management of crown assets.

If pressed on biomedical equipment
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, significant quantities of biomedical equipment have been procured and deployed to jurisdictions or maintained in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile in case they are needed.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada is working closely with provincial and territorial governments to identify needs and allocate biomedical equipment, including oxygen concentrators.

If pressed on the development of a comprehensive management plan for the future of the NESS
• The top priority for the Public Health Agency of Canada is supporting Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Agency is committed to enhancing its preparedness for future public health emergencies, including working on improvements for the management of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada agreed with the recommendation of the Auditor General to develop a comprehensive management plan for the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile to support responses to future public health emergencies.
• This plan will focus on key areas, such as optimizing life-cycle materiel management, enhancing infrastructure and systems, and working closely with provinces and territories and other key partners to better define needs and roles and responsibilities.

NESS Mandate

The fundamental basis underpinning federal emergency management and the NESS is that provincial, territorial and local governments are prepared to respond in a reasonable manner to the most common emergencies in their jurisdictions. This includes being responsible for the procurement and management of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies.

As such, the federal government’s role in stockpiling emergency health assets is twofold:
• To provide surge capacity support to provinces and territories at their request when their own resources are not sufficient
• As the sole provider of certain assets, for example, costly and rarely used vaccines or antidotes, required for rare public health emergencies

NESS Footprint

To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NESS added warehousing capacity through temporary warehousing and third-party logistics solutions. This has increased the footprint of the NESS by approximately 2.5 million square feet of dedicated space to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NESS Funding

As of September 2021, the NESS budget for COVID-19 response is approximately $7.4 billion for the procurement of PPE, vaccine ancillary supplies, medical equipment and supplies, and for logistics and warehousing. An additional $65.5 million has been approved for ongoing funding for medical countermeasures. Budget 2022 proposes to invest $50 million in 2022-23 to support the operations of the NESS. This funding will be used to help maintain the critical medical supplies, including personal protective equipment, so that Canada can continue to quickly respond to public health events and other emergencies.

Life-cycle Management

Taking into account lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, PHAC will develop a comprehensive management plan for the NESS that will focus on capacity and readiness of the NESS to support responses to future public health emergencies. This will include a focus on key areas such as optimizing operations, including logistics and life-cycle management; enhancing infrastructure and systems; working closely with the provinces and territories and other key partners to strengthen Canada’s overall preparedness; and conducting ongoing analysis on asset requirements.

Made-in-Canada Ventilators

As a result of ISED’s Call to Action, the Government of Canada identified five Canadian companies capable of manufacturing made-in-Canada ventilators in support of the fight against COVID-19.

Since the spring of 2020, the evidence and public health guidance has evolved and ventilator use has been de-emphasized for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Canada has successfully secured an adequate supply and stockpile of ventilators to meet potential demand.

OAG Audit

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) undertook a performance audit on the Government of Canada’s ability to meet the needs of provinces and territories, and the healthcare sector, for PPE and medical devices to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The audit period covered January 2020 through to August 31, 2020 and implicated the PHAC, PSPC and HC.

Overall, the OAG found that PHAC, PSPC and HC helped to meet the needs of provincial and territorial governments for PPE and medical devices during the pandemic. The report does however highlight that as a result of long-standing unaddressed problems with the systems and practices in place to manage the NESS, PHAC was not as prepared as it could have been to respond to the needs of provinces and territories for PPE and medical devices. PHAC and HC have both committed to addressing the recommendations from the OAG within one year of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Facts
• Canada's National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) contains supplies that provinces and territories can request in emergencies, such as infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and other public health events, when their own resources are exhausted. The stockpile includes a variety of items such as personal protective equipment; vaccine ancillary supplies; medical equipment (e.g. ventilators, biomedical equipment) and supplies; pharmaceuticals; and social service supplies, such as beds and blankets.