HARD NUMBERS: Provinces destroy COVID shots too soon, Air Canada makes pilots a big offer, US jobs crop withers, Washington turns up a fresh Russian meddling scheme

5: At least five Canadian provinces have removed existing COVID-19 shots to make room for updated doses that are set to arrive this fall, but … it’s not fall yet! The provincial governments of Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Alberta say they took the measure at the direction of Health Canada, but federal authorities say it was a misunderstanding. The old shots weren’t supposed to be destroyed until after the approved new ones arrived. Now many Canadians might not have ready access to shots until October.

30: Air Canada has reportedly offered its pilots a 30% pay increase in a bid to head off a possible mid-September strike at the national flagship carrier. As reported by Bloomberg, pilots would get an upfront 20% pay increase, with the remaining 10% distributed over three years.

3.5: The US economy in July generated its lowest monthly level of job openings in 3.5 years, with just 1.07 open job positions for every unemployed person. That’s down from 1.16 in June. The info comes atop four straight months of rising unemployment, which now sits at 4.3%, and has stoked speculation about whether the Fed will cut rates by more than the 25 basis points expected at its mid-September meeting.

10 million: The US on Wednesday formally accused two Russia-based employees of the Russian state media company RT of orchestrating a $10 million scheme to influence the US election. The plot involved using fake identities and shell companies to hire a Tennessee-based video production company to produce content meant to amplify America’s (already deep) political divisions.