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Vaccine stocks Modern (MRNA), BioNTech (BNTX) and Pfizer (PFE) overturned on Monday after a host of scientists opposed the Covid booster injections.
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Clinical studies do not support the benefit of boosting vaccinations against Covid, scientists said in an article published in a medical journal called The Lancet. The group includes exiting vaccine experts from the Food and Drug Administration, Marion Gruber and Philip Krause. Gruber and Krause are said to be leaving due to frustration over the Biden administration’s plan to launch booster shots on September 20.
Instead, the scientists proposed to vaccinate unvaccinated people. In the United States, about 47% of eligible people are not vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The limited supply of these vaccines will save the most lives if they are made available to people who are at appreciable risk of serious illness and have not yet received any vaccines,” they wrote. “While some gains may ultimately be achieved through stimulation, this will not outweigh the benefits of providing initial protection to the unvaccinated.”
As of midday on today’s stock market, BioNTech stock has fallen 6.3%, to nearly 327.30. Moderna stock slipped 5.3% to 425.70. Pfizer stock fell 2.4% to near 44.65.
Dive into vaccine stocks
The White House Covid task force recently announced its intention to start booster injections for recipients of messenger RNA vaccines from September 20.
The announcement left the FDA and CDC to scramble as their external advisory groups and the agencies themselves have yet to review the recall data. These are key steps in initiating booster shots. On Friday, the FDA advisory committee will discuss the benefits and risks of an increase with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.
BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine stocks peaked in mid-August, but have mostly fallen since then. Pfizer stock is now sitting on a bottom at its 50-day moving average and BioNTech stock is heading towards that line, according to MarketSmith.com.
Monday’s decision halted a recent run for Moderna vaccine stockpile.
Booster for immunocompromised people?
There might be some benefits to giving booster shots to people who haven’t developed an effective immune response to their first shots, the scientists wrote. However, it is possible that they also have an equally weak response to a booster dose.
So far, licensed vaccines remain effective in preventing Covid severe enough to require hospitalization and death, the scientists wrote. Vaccines may appear less effective now, as the first people to receive Covid vaccines in late 2020 and early 2021 were elderly or immunocompromised.
A booster might be appropriate if the virus mutates to the point that the vaccines are no longer effective. Experts say the virus mutates in unvaccinated people whose immune systems are not prepared to fight the virus. This gives the virus a better chance to replicate itself and thus create new mutations.
But there could also be risks “if boosters are widely introduced too early or too frequently,” they said. This is especially true for mRNA vaccines, which carry an increased risk of heart inflammation, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Authorities warn of immune disease linked to injection of J&J.
High sales expectations for 2021
Vaccine stocks had increased as companies count on large sales of Covid vaccines in 2021.
For the year, Pfizer expects $ 33.5 billion in revenue from its Covid shot. This represents approximately 42% to 43% of the company’s total revenue projection.
In its second quarter earnings release, BioNTech said it plans to deliver 2.2 billion doses of the Covid vaccine this year. But that did not provide any sales prospects.
Moderna said it signed deals for $ 20 billion worth of Covid vaccine doses in 2021.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
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