Why Vaccine Stocks Like BioNTech and Novavax Are Crashing Today
Shares of COVID-19 vaccine developers Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) are down 9.2% and 16.1%, respectively, as of 1:19 p.m. ET Monday. Most other makers of COVID-19 vaccines are also under pressure after Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) President Stephen Hoge cautioned the world in an interview on Sunday that the existing vaccines may be relatively ineffective in preventing the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Then there's the fact that pill-based treatments for the disease are nearing their commercial availability.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, Hoge commented there's a "real risk" that COVID-19's Omicron strain won't be particularly responsive to vaccines that began development even before the Delta variant emerged. It's possible that existing formulations may need to be updated in order to combat the spread of COVID-19. These changes could take weeks to complete, assuming that doing so would produce effective treatments.
Source Fool.com
