Trump’s Choice to Nominate RFK Jr. Weighs on Vaccine Maker Stocks

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s decision on Thursday to name Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), stocks for multiple vaccine manufacturing companies dropped during Friday morning’s trading period. Shares of Pfizer on Friday dropped by 4 percent, while Moderna’s dropped by around 7 percent. Both pharmaceutical companies manufacture commonly used vaccines, including mRNA-based shots for COVID-19. Novavax shares dropped by about 1.6 percent in the same period. In Europe, shares of Bavarian Nordic, which makes a vaccine for mpox, fell by more than 15 percent on Friday, while pharmaceutical companies GSK and AstraZeneca dropped by 2 percent or more. AstraZeneca also makes a COVID-19 vaccine that is used across Europe and other countries, although it was never approved for use in the United States....