Moderna shipment cut by more than 50,000

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada’s other vaccine supplier has to cut back on its deliveries next week.

Moderna will ship only about three-quarters of the expected supply, cutting Canada’s next shipment by more than 50,000.

Similar cuts are being made to Europe’s deliveries, with Italy, France and Switzerland all reporting they, too, are getting less than 80 per cent of their expected doses.

It is more bad news for Canada’s already troubled vaccine supplies, after Pfizer cut back its deliveries by more than twothirds since mid-January.

Pfizer is also pushing Canada to change the label on its vaccine to declare each vial contains six doses, instead of five, allowing the drugmaker to meet its delivery contract by sending fewer vials.

Trudeau says new export controls Europe is imposing on COVID-19 vaccines produced there won’t affect Canada, and he expects Pfizer and Moderna to catch up on their deliveries before long.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday the commission is following through on a threat to force COVID-19 vaccine makers to show them what vaccines they are producing in Europe and where those are going.

The delivery news will overshadow Friday’s positive vaccine development with American pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson reporting its vaccine is very good at preventing people from being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.

The vaccine is the first to use just a single dose and can be stored in a fridge for up to three months, making it a potential game-changer in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

The results aren’t quite as good as those seen in the two vaccines Health Canada has already approved, with both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna saying their vaccines showed 95 per cent efficacy against severe illness. Johnson and Johnson says its single-dose vaccine is 85 per cent effective against severe illness a month after the injection is given.