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A person holds a vial of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine
Fred Tanneau/AFP via Getty Images
Moderna
stock, as well as shares of Covid vaccine makers
BioNTech
and
Novavax,
were sliding after an article in the Lancet suggested that a booster shot wouldn’t be necessary for most people.
In morning trading, Moderna (MRNA) stock has dropped 5.8%, while BioNTech (BNTX) had fallen 5.6%, and Novavax (NVAX) has declined 2.4%.
Pfizer
(PFE), BioNTech’s partner, had slipped 2%. The
S&P 500
was up 0.1%.
The Lancet article was a review of data from clinical trials, as well as efficacy in the real world. The authors, who included the FDA’s Marion Gruber and Philip Krause, argue that there is no evidence that the vaccines lose their ability to protect against “severe disease, even when there appear to be declines over time in vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease.”
The debate over whether to use booster shots in the U.S. is ongoing, even as Israel begins to discuss the possibility of a fourth shot. Continued vaccinations would produce longer-term revenue streams for vaccine makers.
Write to Ben Levisohn at ben.levisohn@barrons.com