Moderna, Pfizer stocks fall as Covid omicron wave subsides in U.S.
Shares of the major Covid vaccine makers fell on Monday, as the unprecedented wave of omicron infections eased, with new cases rapidly dropping across the country.
Moderna plunged more than 12%, the biggest decline in the S&P 500 as of midafternoon Monday. Pfizer was down more than 2% and its partner BioNTech slid 9%, while Novavax was off more than 10% and Johnson & Johnson fell over 1%.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told The Financial Times last week that the U.S. is exiting the “full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19.”
The U.S. reported a seven-day average of about 175,000 new Covid cases per day as of Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, down 42% over the past week. Reported cases hit a pandemic high of more than 800,000 per day, on average, on Jan. 15.
Moderna's Covid vaccine is the company's only commercial product, so its stock could be exposed to further declines as demand for vaccines ebbs.
About 64% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated with two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.
While shots are still going into Americans' arms, the national vaccination rate itself is rising much more slowly than earlier in the pandemic.
It took just over two months for the share of fully vaccinated Americans to go from 40% to 50% last summer and then another four months to reach the 60% level. It has gone up only four percentage points since Dec. 6.
Covid vaccinations spiked in December as states confirmed their first cases of the omicron variant, but have since fallen off. The U.S. administered an average of 443,000 shots per day over the last week, according to the latest CDC data available as of Feb. 8, down from a December high of more than 1.7 million shots per day and peak levels of nearly 3.5 million shots per day in April.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday delayed plans to fast track authorization of the Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid vaccine for children under 5 year old. The FDA had originally planned to authorize the first two doses of what will ultimately be a three-dose vaccine as soon as this month. However, Pfizer and the FDA said they now plan to wait until data is submitted on the third dose in April.
Pfizer and BioNTech also are developing a Covid vaccine that targets the omicron variant. CEO Albert Bourla has said the omicron shot will be ready in March, though its unclear whether a new vaccine will be needed if cases continue to decline. Moderna also has started clinical trials on an omicron-specific booster shot.
Novavax's vaccine has not received FDA authorization. In the event that public health conditions continue to improve, it's unclear how much demand there will be in the U.S. for the company's vaccine after Novavax receives the regulatory green light.
In related news, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel sold 19,000 company shares last week, totaling $2.9 million and deleted his Twitter account after two years of inactivity, raising questions on the social media platform. Bancel sells the same amount of shares on a weekly basis, according to securities filings.
由于史无前例的 omicron 感染浪潮有所缓解，新冠病毒疫苗生产商的股价周一下跌，全国范围内的新病例迅速下降。 Moderna 暴跌超过 12%，是截至周一午后标准普尔 500 指数的最大跌幅。辉瑞下跌超过 2%，其合作伙伴 BioNTech 下跌 9%，而 Novavax 下跌超过 10%，强生公司下跌超过 1%。
白宫首席医疗顾问安东尼·福奇博士上周告诉英国《金融时报》，美国正在退出“Covid-19 的全面流行阶段”。
根据约翰霍普金斯大学汇编的数据，截至周日，美国平均每天报告约 175,000 例新的 Covid 病例，过去一周下降了 42%。 1 月 15 日，报告的病例平均每天达到 800,000 多例。
Moderna 的 Covid 疫苗是该公司唯一的商业产品，因此随着疫苗需求的下降，其股票可能会进一步下跌。
疾病控制和预防中心的数据显示，大约 64% 的美国人口完全接种了两针辉瑞或 Moderna 疫苗或一剂强生疫苗。
尽管疫苗仍在美国人手中，但全国疫苗接种率本身的上升速度比大流行初期要慢得多。
去年夏天，完全接种疫苗的美国人的比例从 40% 上升到 50% 只用了两个多月，然后又过了四个月才达到 60% 的水平。自 12 月 6 日以来，它仅上涨了 4 个百分点。
随着各州确认了首例 omicron 变体病例，Covid 疫苗接种在 12 月激增，但此后有所下降。根据截至 2 月 8 日的最新 CDC 数据，美国上周平均每天注射 443,000 针，低于 12 月每天超过 170 万针的高位和近 350 万针的峰值水平。四月的一天。
美国食品药品监督管理局（Food and Drug Administration）周五推迟了加快辉瑞（Pfizer）和 BioNTech 为 5 岁以下儿童提供 Covid 疫苗授权的计划。 FDA 最初计划最早在本月批准前两剂疫苗，最终将成为三剂疫苗。然而，辉瑞和 FDA 表示，他们现在计划等到 4 月份提交第三剂的数据。
辉瑞和 BioNTech 也在开发一种针对 omicron 变体的 Covid 疫苗。首席执行官 Albert Bourla 曾表示，该 omicron 疫苗将于 3 月准备就绪，但尚不清楚如果病例继续下降，是否需要新疫苗。 Moderna 还开始了针对 omicron 的强化注射的临床试验。
Novavax 的疫苗尚未获得 FDA 的授权。如果公共卫生状况继续改善，在 Novavax 获得监管批准后，美国对该公司疫苗的需求量尚不清楚。
在相关新闻中，Moderna 首席执行官 Stephane Bancel 上周出售了 19,000 股公司股票，总计 290 万美元，并在两年不活动后删除了他的 Twitter 账户，这在社交媒体平台上引发了质疑。根据证券文件，Bancel 每周出售相同数量的股票。
