The federal government worked hard and fast to procure and distribute COVID-19 vaccines and to get financial support programs running in the early stage of the pandemic, auditor general Karen Hogan reported in a pair of audits released Tuesday. But it ended up with a $1-billion oversupply of doses and millions that expired, $4.6 billion in support payments to ineligible recipients and a further $27.4 billion in payments that need more investigation. (The Logic)

Talking point: The federal and provincial governments have long-standing problems with sharing health data that meant the feds had little idea what happened to vaccine doses once the provinces got them, Hogan found, and they had no unified system for monitoring side effects. On the financial-supports side, her report said the Canada Revenue Agency’s lack of real-time data on sales and payrolls (which could help with more efficient tax administration in normal times, too) made judging eligibility difficult in 2020, and makes collecting on excess payments difficult now.