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| Moderna Covid Vaccine |
The major Covid vaccine manufacturers saw their stock prices fall on Monday as the unprecedented wave of omicron infections subsided, with new cases rapidly declining across the country.
Moderna fell more than 11% Monday, the most in the S&P 500. Pfizer lost nearly 2% and BioNTech lost more than 9%, while Novavax lost more than 11% and Johnson & Johnson lost more than 1%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical advisor, told The Financial Times last week that the United States has exited the "full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19."
As of Sunday, the United States reported an average of approximately 175,000 new Covid cases per day over a seven-day period, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, down 42 percent from the previous week. On Jan. 15, reported cases reached a pandemic high of more than 800,000 per day on average.
Moderna's sole commercial product is the Covid vaccine, and as demand for vaccines declines, the company's stock may face further declines.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 64% of the US population is fully vaccinated with two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson.
While vaccinations continue to be administered to Americans, the national vaccination rate is increasing much more slowly than it was earlier in the pandemic.
It took just over two months for the proportion of fully vaccinated Americans to increase from 40% to 50% last summer, and then another four months to reach 60%. Since Dec. 6, it has increased by only four percentage points.
Covid vaccinations increased significantly in December as states confirmed their first cases of the omicron variant, but have since decreased significantly. According to the most recent CDC data available as of Feb. 8, the United States administered an average of 443,000 shots per day over the last week, down from a December high of more than 1.7 million shots per day and a peak of nearly 3.5 million shots per day in April.
The Food and Drug Administration delayed plans on Friday to expedite the approval of Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid vaccine for children under the age of five. Originally, the FDA intended to approve the first two doses of what will eventually be a three-dose vaccine this month. Pfizer and the FDA, on the other hand, have stated that they will now wait until data on the third dose is submitted in April.
Additionally, Pfizer and BioNTech are developing a Covid vaccine against the omicron variant. According to CEO Albert Bourla, the omicron shot will be available in March, though it is unclear whether a new vaccine will be required if cases continue to decline. Additionally, Moderna has begun clinical trials for an omicron-specific booster shot.
The vaccine developed by Novavax has not been approved by the FDA. Even if public health conditions continue to improve, it is unclear how much demand for Novavax's vaccine will exist in the United States once the company receives regulatory approval.
In related news, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel sold 19,000 company shares worth $2.9 million last week and deleted his Twitter account after two years of inactivity, raising concerns on the social media platform. According to securities filings, Bancel sells the same number of shares weekly.