Pfizer Inc.

* PFIZER WILL MOVE UP DELIVERIES OF COVID-19 VACCINE TO CANADA, SENDING ADDITIONAL 1.5 MILLION DOSES IN MARCH AND ANOTHER 1 MILLION DOSES IN BOTH APRIL AND MAY - PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: [ ] (Reporting by David Ljunggren)

Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccine campaign on Friday, becoming the first nation in Africa to use pharmaceutical company Pfizer's doses that require ultra-cold storage.

Takeda Pharmaceutical said it had asked regulators to approve use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, which would add a third option to Japan's vaccination programme.

The minister overseeing Japan's vaccination programme, Taro Kono, said on Friday shipments to Japan of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech will likely make a nearly fourfold jump in April from the previous month.

South Africa's medicines regulator said on Thursday that it was at an advanced stage of reviewing an emergency use application for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

South Korea's drug safety ministry said on Friday it has granted final approval for the use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

The United States has administered 82,572,848 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Thursday morning and delivered 109,905,530 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

South Africa's drug regulatory authority SAHPRA told Reuters on Thursday that an emergency use application for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was "in advanced stages of review". (Reporting by Wendell Roelf Editing by Alexander Winning)

* EMA SAYS LATEST SAFETY DATA FOR PFIZER'S COVID-19 VACCINE ARE IN LINE WITH THE KNOWN BENEFIT-RISK PROFILE

Recent data on COVID-19 vaccinations with the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca shots are encouraging, the European regional adviser to the World Health Organization told reporters on Thursday.

Brazil set a daily record for COVID-19 deaths for a second straight day on Wednesday, as a raging resurgence of the virus led Sao Paulo state to shutter businesses and the government to try to close vaccine deals with Pfizer and Janssen.

The United States has administered 80,540,474 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Wednesday morning and delivered 107,028,890 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The Brazilian government has reached an agreement to buy 100 million doses of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, Globo News cable channel reported on Wednesday.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia, both under severe pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, will each receive an extra 100,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from their European Union partners.

Kenya received over a million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, while Rwanda said it was the first in Africa to secure shots from Pfizer, as efforts to inoculate the world's poorest nations accelerated.

British scientists urged European countries to take note on Wednesday of interim data showing what they described as "remarkable" effectiveness of a single dose of Pfizer's or AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines in frail and elderly people.

Austria will receive an extra 100,000 doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine to administer to all adults in a hotspot of the South African variant and carry out a study there on the drug's efficacy, the government said on Wednesday.

One dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech's or AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine helps to prevent disease severe enough to require hospitalisation of people in their 80s with other illnesses, interim data from a UK study showed on Wednesday.

The first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 shots to be dispatched to Africa under the global COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme were to arrive in Rwanda on Wednesday, as efforts to inoculate the world's poorest nations accelerate.