The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) threw away around 5.4 million N95 masks just a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit—at which time Canada experienced a shortage of the masks—according to an internal audit.
The largest-scale disposal of N95 masks came after PHAC closed three private medical supply warehouses in 2019, says a federal report titled “Audit of the Security of National Emergency Strategic Stockpile Warehouse Facilities” and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
PHAC also threw away 2.4 million surgical masks and over 1 million medical gloves.
When pandemic lockdowns began in March 2020, PHAC hurried to contract three new temporary warehouse facilities where it could store medical supplies to make up for the closures a year earlier, according to the audit. The audit said there was “significant dependence on these warehouse facilities.”…