Mr. Chair, early on in the pandemic, at a federal level and, as well, our provincial and territorial counterparts, purchasing was done in a way to obtain whatever products we could get our hands on that would provide infection prevention control for our front-line health care workers. In some cases, we have supplies that may not be the key preference of the health care system. I'll give an example: a surgical mask, which is not ASTM standard or gowns that might contain latex.
We are looking for alternative settings, for example, outreach to charitable organizations in Canada, where those surgical masks that wouldn't be the choice for use in the health care system may perhaps be valuable in a homeless shelter, for example, as well as where these can support critical and challenging situations internationally.
These are products that are acceptable. It's just that they are not meeting the preferences of our target health care system users.