Madam Speaker, first of all, my heart goes out to my colleague. I listened to her speech, and I can hear the fear and worry in her voice for her community, her province and the people there. I share her worry and concern.
We are at a critical point in the fight against COVID-19, and the third wave is sweeping across many parts of the country. As my colleague pointed out, hospitalizations and ICU admissions are surpassing previous records. Unfortunately, this third wave is, indeed, taking an enormous toll on Albertans. As I have said before, this is an unprecedented situation and we have to respond with unprecedented and swift actions together.
The government has been offering Alberta support. We will continue to be there for Alberta and Albertans, of course. We have done this recently, as we have with other provinces that have been facing rising numbers of cases. We work continuously with our provincial counterparts to share expertise and provide support to augment the provinces' capacities to respond.
My colleague talked about vaccination. As she knows, despite her claims, we have continued to deliver vaccines to the provinces as they scale up and expand vaccination programs. I happen to have the numbers today: 17.2 million vaccines were delivered across the country and nearly 15 million have been put into arms. We are making tremendous progress, but as we vaccinate Canadians, we have to continue to keep each other safe. This virus has shown us time and again that it is sneaky, it is insidious and it can gain on us very quickly if we do not take it seriously.
We have to remain focused on reducing infections, protecting each other and ensuring that people stay safe in their communities. This means that despite how tired we all are, we have to continue to follow public health guidance and do everything in our power, individually and collectively, to stop the spread of the virus. Vaccination is the finish line, but until we are all safe, we have to keep each other safe. Businesses, governments, families and communities have to do everything in their power to reduce the risks to each other.
Health Canada has authorized four different COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen. Just today, Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children 12 to 15 years of age. All of the authorized vaccines have been shown to be very effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
We are making good progress, as I said, distributing these vaccines to the provinces and territories. Over 17 million doses of all authorized COVID-19 vaccines have gone to the provinces and territories, and nearly 15 million Canadians have received their first dose.
Earlier this week, we received two million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, the largest shipment from the manufacturer to date, and last month, my colleague, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, announced that Canada has secured COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer for 2022 and 2023, with options to extend into 2024. As we have often said, we will be there for Canadians in this fight against COVID with whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. We expect that COVID-19 vaccines will be available to every eligible Canadian who wants to be vaccinated well before September 2021. This is just part of our commitment to the provinces and territories as we stand together in the fight against COVID-19.
We continually work with our colleagues to make sure that they have the help they need to manage outbreaks and keep people safe. This includes purchasing and delivering vaccines and PPE, buying and boosting the use of rapid tests, working with the private sector to deploy rapid tests and augmenting contact tracing. Eight dollars of every $10 spent across our country to respond to the pandemic has come from the Government of Canada.
Much of the on-the-ground support is being provided through the COVID-19 public health rapid surge capacity initiative. This program, in addition to the safe restart agreements, has provided the provinces and territories with $19 billion in federal investments and additional support for health care system capacity, testing, contact tracing, epidemiological support and other social services to support Canadians. It allows the provinces and territories to respond more effectively to outbreaks and to mitigate transmission in hot zones where there is additional pressure on the health care system. It allows for isolation housing for families and communities that do not have the ability to isolate safely when they become infected or have been in close contact with an infected person.
Of course, this support can also be used to strengthen existing services in areas where there is the most need. The eight fields of response under this program include the public health rapid response team; outbreak management; vaccine support; COVID-19 patient testing; laboratory services and equipment; contact tracing; safe voluntary isolation sites; and human resources recruitment.
Recently, we have been able to help struggling health care systems in Ontario, for example, with the health human resource assistance program. This program will provide reimbursement to the provinces and territories that need to use health human resources from another jurisdiction. This will help particularly with respect to staffing intensive care units. The funding helps to ensure that specialized health care services, including ICU nurses, physicians and respiratory therapists, among others, are deployed where and when they are needed. Up to $20 million per province or territory will be available to support their deployment of resources to other jurisdictions in need.
This is really a team Canada moment. The provinces and territories are stepping up for each other, and the federal government is helping to make sure that financial resources are in place to move the health human resources to where they are needed the most.
I will speak for a moment about testing and screening, which, along with public health measures, continue to be at the foundation for slowing the spread of COVID-19. So far, more than 25 million rapid tests have been shipped to the provinces and territories, and when combined with the federal allocation, over 41 million rapid tests have been distributed across the country.
The Province of Alberta recently announced that more than 2 million rapid tests will be available for businesses in the province. This follows the successful rollout of more than 1.2 million rapid tests to long-term care facilities, hospitals, homeless shelters and other outbreak sites where we see the virus transmit more easily. These rapid tests have value. They can help identify presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases, which allows for earlier isolation and quicker stoppage of the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces and other settings.
Another example in Alberta is the Suncor employee screening program. Suncor is one of the first members of the Creative Destruction Lab Rapid Screening Consortium. That is quite the name, but it is an innovation and a private sector workplace initiative that utilizes rapid COVID-19 screening with a commitment to keeping people healthy in the workplace.
Suncor's COVID-19 screening program is focused on the hundreds of fly-in, fly-out workers that conduct maintenance in northern Alberta over the spring and summer months. The company is using 100,000 rapid tests, provided through the Alberta government's allotment, and is administering over 300 tests a week. Suncor is also conducting rapid testing for first nations and Métis communities in Fort McKay, including for regional health facility workers and primary caregivers for the elder care centre. The Government of Canada has so far provided Alberta with almost 3 million rapid tests to support initiatives like this one.
The government continues to work closely with all the provinces and territories, as I said, to ensure that they have the tools they need to respond to the pandemic, including procuring point-of-care PCR and rapid tests, in addition to other public health measures. This is another layer of protection that can help keep workers safe.
We have also worked really closely with the provincial and territorial governments to strengthen health care and adapt the system to the challenges of delivering health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just last month, I announced the signing of a bilateral agreement with Alberta to support efforts to expand virtual health care services for its residents. We know that virtual health care has been a real boon to community members across this country who are accessing health care from the safety of their own home or from the safety of their own residence. Under this agreement, the province will invest federal funding to accelerate virtual health care services during the pandemic. This bilateral agreement allows Alberta to receive nearly $16 million to expand its efforts on these virtual health care services.
Some initiatives Alberta will use the funding for include expanding My Health Record patient portal information and capabilities, and developing a privacy and security framework for virtual care. These initiatives will help the province not only improve access to health care services, but also prioritize the patient experience and keep the privacy and security considerations of health information top of mind, something that we know is important to people accessing virtual care across the country.
We know that COVID-19 presents a significant physical health risk, but we also know that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on folks with respect to mental health. That is why early on in the pandemic we launched Wellness Together Canada, which is an online portal that offers free mental health and substance-use support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in both official languages with translation into 60 others.
Budget 2021 proposes to provide $100 million over three years to support projects for innovative mental health interventions, because we know that many populations have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including health care workers, frontline workers, youth, seniors, indigenous people, racialized communities and Black Canadians. There are so many incredible community organizations across this country, including in Alberta, that are closest to folks and know how best to deliver those services. We want to support them, especially as we see demand for these kinds of services growing.
Thankfully, we continue to see a significant drop in the number of outbreaks in long-term care homes. We are working to ensure that long-term care residents and caregivers are well supported. The fall economic statement invested $6.4 million to the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. This funding is being used to expand its long-term care program to address pandemic preparedness.
I have to say the foundation has done incredible work on helping long-term care homes across the country become more equipped at infection prevention and control, and other measures to protect their residents. Alberta has 238 of the 350 long-term care homes and retirement homes supported through this program.
I will close with a few thoughts about the ongoing importance of public health measures. Vaccination campaigns are ramping up, but as we have said before and as we can see, we are not out of the woods yet. Even those who are vaccinated must continue to follow the basic public health measures that are keeping all of us safe. While numbers are growing every day, many people in Canada, in fact most people, are not fully vaccinated yet. Until they are, we need to hold the epidemic at bay with public health measures to provide protection of the population level.
Lifting measures too soon will cause an upsurge in cases, and indeed the modelling all along has shown that. The science has not been wrong. If we lift measures too quickly, or apply them too slowly, people will surely get sick and some will die. That is the reality. Despite the frustration, the fatigue that infuses us all, we have to continue and commit to each other to apply public health measures because they do work.
International experiences show that stringent public health measures control rapid epidemic growth and allow that time that we need for vaccination rates to grow and to work to reduce the spread. We are at a critical point in the battle against COVID-19. We need to be very careful and protect the progress we have made, even as we look towards a more hopeful future.
That means acting on the evidence and continuing to work closely with provinces, territories and municipalities on a coordinated response. It means we need to keep public health measures in place and encourage Canadians to continue to protect themselves by taking the appropriate personal precautions. It means we have to be patient, and we have to hold on just a little more before we relax our guard. It means that we need to hold on together, governments at all levels, businesses and people.
We cannot ignore this virus. COVID is not partisan. It does not care about our divisions. In fact, it actually exploits them. It exploits communities and countries that do not work together. It is why our federal government has been there for provinces, people, workers and businesses. Every step of the way, we have been there for Canadians. We will continue to be there for Albertans every step of the way. We will be there with resources, people, vaccines and equipment, testing, and financial supports for families, as they work so hard to protect each other.
The Government of Canada will continue to support provinces and territories as we finish this fight. I spoke with Minister Shandro last week. The Prime Minister has spoken with Premier Kenney last night. We both reiterated our ongoing offers of support for Alberta and Albertans during this tough time.
I know Albertans are working hard together, and I encourage every Canadian, every Albertan to accept vaccination when it is their turn. Vaccines do save lives, and they stop the spread. It is the biggest gift of health that we can give ourselves and our communities.
We can see the finish line. We need all to take actions together that will defeat this virus from infecting new people. We have come a long way over the past year. We have learned a lot of hard lessons. Now our challenge is to stay the course. The Government of Canada is committed to doing that, and I know that Canadians share that determination. We will continue to support each other until we have overcome this third wave of the pandemic and have emerged even stronger on the other side.
