Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech shares fell after a report from a renowned agency said that health officials of the current administration plan to include a claim that there was a link between the deaths of 25 children and the Covid vaccine. All the three companies make vaccines for Covid and other diseases.
Pfizer shares fell by more than 3 percent while Moderna stock fell by more than 7 percent. Novavax stock fell by more than 4 percent and BioNTech fell by more than 9 percent.
The Washington Post, who was the first to report the news, said that the claim was apparently made using information submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
VAERS monitors the safety of vaccines that have been approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA.) Patients, doctors and pharmacists post on the database. It is a self-reported database. It is managed by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.)
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet next week and review the new claims following which updated recommendations on vaccines will be made.
The ACIP makes recommendations on who will receive vaccines, and whether they should be covered by insurance.
When asked for comment, the US Department of Health and Human Services communications director Andrew Nixon said that staff from both the CDC and FDA regularly monitor data from VAERS.
He said, “Those reviews are being shared publicly through the established ACIP process. Until that is shared publicly any of this should be considered pure speculation.”
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has reworked the regulatory infrastructure of vaccines. Kennedy, who wants to Make America Healthy Again, is a vaccine sceptic and a strong advocate against the use of artificial additives in food and believes in the importance of exercise.
The Department of Health under Kennedy has withdrawn recommendations of Covid shots for healthy kids and pregnant women. It has also set new limits for new shots against the virus.
