Thursday was a good day for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a bad day for companies that make vaccines. As President-elect Trump announced that Kennedy will be his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, stocks in top vaccine makers dropped sharply, wiping billions of dollars off the value of companies including Pfizer, the Wall Street Journal reports. Companies including BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax began falling Thursday afternoon and dropped more in after-hours trading after Trump confirmed the pick. Stocks continued to fall Friday in the US and Europe, with Pfizer down more than 4% and Moderna down more than 7% by mid-morning.
Kennedy has long voiced skepticism about vaccines and has promoted discredited theories about vaccines causing autism. Health experts fear that if he is confirmed as HHS secretary, his policies could deter Americans from receiving routine immunizations, CNBC reports. Last week, he said he's "not going to take away anybody's vaccines," but wants to "make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them." Vaccine scientists, however, worry that he will put fellow vaccine critics on boards that oversee immunization advice, the Journal reports.
"He's a science denialist," Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, tells the Journal. Offit says Kennedy has used his "famous name" as "a platform to frighten parents unnecessarily about vaccine safety."
- JP Morgan analysts said Friday they "are not surprised the sector has been under pressure on the potential for RFK Jr. having oversight of the various agencies within HHS (including the FDA, the CDC, NIH, and Medicare/Medicaid) given his previous stated views on the industry," Reuters reports. RBC analyst Brian Abrahams warned the appointment could also have "far-reaching and difficult-to-project implications for the biotechnology sector, adding a considerable layer of uncertainty and challenging investability."
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