Weakness in shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Monday was tied to concerns about takeup of its Covid booster in the U.S. following comments from rival vaccine maker Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
Pfizer’s Chief Financial Officer David Denton presented at the J.P. Morgan 14th Annual U.S. All Stars Conference. During the presentation, Denton said Pfizer is forecasting 24% of the U.S. population recommended to take the newly approved vaccination will take the shot.
“…our expectation for this year is that from a vaccination perspective in the U.S. is roughly 24% vaccination rate. Keep in mind, the flu is probably closer to a 50% vaccination rate. So we haircut that pretty significantly for the year. We will see how that plays out as we look at the trends in the coming weeks in the U.S. and globally from that perspective,” said Denton.
Denton said he expects better clarity on vaccine rates next year.
“I think now coming out of 2023, with some of this now being more in the commercial space, we'll have better clarity on what '24 and beyond begins to look like, and we'll just try to lay out a similar set of facts and stats so that you can manage our expectations and our performance levels,” said Pfizer’s CFO.
Moderna shares declined by 8.7% following the update from Pfizer, making it the worst performer in the S&P 500 index.
Pfizer shares were lower by 1.3% and its partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) declined 3.6%.