Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on social media that the emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines have now been rescinded.
Earlier reports on Monday suggested the Trump administration is preparing to remove COVID-19 vaccines from the U.S. market "within months.”
The COVID-19 immunization task force now falls under the purview of Retsef Levi, an MIT professor known for questioning the safety of mRNA shot.
Concurrently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech SE’s (NASDAQ:BNTX) supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for the companies’ LP.8.1-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine (COMIRNATY LP.8.1; COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) for adults 65 years and older, as well as in individuals ages 5 through 64 years with at least one underlying condition.
To date, 5 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed globally.
The X post noted that FDA marketing authorizations were also issued for Moderna Inc’s (NASDAQ:MRNA) vaccine for people 6 months and older and Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) for individuals 12 years and above, who are at high risk.
“These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors,” RFK Jr. said on Wednesday.
In August, the Department of Health and Human Services said to cancel 22 vaccine development projects totaling $500 million focused on mRNA-based vaccine contracts to combat respiratory viruses such as COVID-19, the flu, and H5N1.
In August, a gunman attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Officials at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the gunman was 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, who allegedly targeted the agency because of his COVID-19 vaccine beliefs.
A group of former CDC employees blamed Kennedy for vilifying the agency’s workforce through “his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust.
Price Action:
- PFE stock is up 0.62% at $25.08
- BNTX stock is down 1.4% at $103.32
- MRNA stock is up 0.8% at $24.93, and
- NVAX stock is down 0.13% at $7.49.
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