U.S. vaccine stocks are in the spotlight! The CDC reviews U.S. vaccine policy for the first time after Little Kennedy took office
The U.S. CDC will hold a meeting on April 15-16 to review vaccination guidelines, led by the new Secretary Robert Kennedy. The meeting will discuss the latest developments regarding vaccines for measles, COVID-19, RSV, and monkeypox, and evaluate GSK and Pfizer's RSV vaccines to determine whether to expand the CDC's recommendations. ACIP's recommendations are crucial for vaccine promotion, and insurance companies need to cover recommended vaccines
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, American vaccine manufacturers will attract significant investor attention on Tuesday, as a group of independent experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will hold a meeting for the first time under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a well-known vaccine skeptic — to review the immunization guidelines in the United States.
This two-day meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will include the latest updates on the measles outbreak in the U.S., as well as reports on vaccines for COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and monkeypox. The meeting was originally scheduled for February 26-28 but was postponed for nearly two months after Kennedy was confirmed as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and will now take place on April 15-16.
The vaccination recommendations set by ACIP are aimed at states and health insurance companies. In most cases, ACIP's recommendations become the national vaccination program. Additionally, U.S. health insurance companies are obligated to cover vaccines recommended by ACIP, while they have the right to refuse payment for vaccines outside of ACIP's recommendations. Therefore, the promotion of new vaccines heavily relies on ACIP.
Before the meeting, Goldman Sachs provided a positive outlook for GSK's RSV vaccine Arexvy. This vaccine, along with its competitor Pfizer's Abrysvo, will be evaluated at the ACIP meeting to determine whether to expand the CDC's recommendations to include the 50 to 59 age group. Other vaccines to be discussed at the meeting include the monkeypox vaccine Jynneos from Bavarian Nordic, Moderna's next-generation COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1283, and its RSV vaccine mRNA-1345.
ACIP experts will also discuss and vote on the COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which could have significant implications for several major COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax