Moderna says vaccines to Canada to be delayed due to Europe shortfall

Only about half of expected delivery to arrive in Canada by end of April

The drugmaker would be delivering only 650,000 doses by the end of April as opposed to 1.2 million. AP 

Moderna on Friday said a shortfall in Covid-19 vaccine doses from its European supply chain will lead to a delay in deliveries to some countries, including Canada.

The drugmaker would be delivering only 650,000 doses by the end of April as opposed to 1.2 million, Canada's Procurement Minister Anita Anand said in a statement.

She said one to two million doses of the 12.3 million shots scheduled for delivery by Moderna in the second quarter would be delayed until the third.

Moderna officials in Europe did not immediately comment on the reason for the delays or give the total number of countries that would be affected.

"Vaccine manufacturing is a highly complex process and a number of elements, including human and material resources have factored into this volatility," said Patricia Gauthier, an executive at Moderna Canada.

Canada has distributed a total of 2.82 million doses of the Moderna vaccine as of April 14 and 12.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in total.

Moderna has been aiming to deliver 700 million to 1 billion doses of the Covid-19 globally this year, including from plants in Europe and the US.

Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza makes active ingredients for Moderna's vaccine in Visp, but it was still ramping up three new production lines that, once operational, would be able to produce 300 million shots annually.

The current supply, demand and distribution landscape has led the drugmaker to make adjustments in the expected second-quarter deliveries, Ms Gauthier said.