Moderna will ship 20 to 25 per cent fewer shots next month than originally planned, while the federal government said a delay in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipments will be deeper and longer than initially expected. (CBC, The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: The scramble for vaccines by countries looking to quickly immunize their populations has intensified as supply falls short of demand. The EU introduced new rules today on vaccine exports to prevent vaccines being diverted to countries outside their 27-nation bloc. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continued to attempt to allay fears over a shortage, saying Canada will receive two million doses of Moderna’s vaccine and four million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s by the end of March. There’s some good news on the production and development fronts. Novartis, a Swiss drugmaker, will help produce the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after signing an initial agreement. Meanwhile, on Friday, EU regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s vaccine for adults, making it the third approved COVID-19 vaccine by the European Medicines Agency. Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine was 66 per cent effective in preventing moderate to severe illness, and 85 per cent effective against more serious symptoms, according to data from a trial.