Vaccine makers Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) received a boost from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of new COVID-19 boosters. The increasing number of COVID-19 cases related to the new omicron variant XBB.1.5 has led to a rise in hospitalizations. Even so, both Moderna and Pfizer need to await the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before rolling the updated vaccines out to the public.
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The FDA approved the boosters for people aged 12 and above. Plus, the vaccines can be used in children between 6 months to 11 years of age under emergency use authorization (EUA). The CDC is slated to meet on September 12 to recommend the use of the new boosters. As soon as the CDC Director signs off on the letter recommending the jabs, the vaccines can be rolled out at pharmacies, health clinics, and vaccine distribution sites. Most people with private insurance or registered under the Medicare and Medicaid programs can avail of the new shots for free.
Current Virus Strain is Less Severe
As per data from the CDC, Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have been on the uptick in the past seven weeks. In the week ending August 26, hospitalizations jumped 15%, but the numbers are still far below the highs seen in the summer of 2022. With winter approaching, the government worries that cases could increase tremendously, and thus, the urgency to make the vaccines available to a wider population. As per data, the vaccine takes two weeks to reach its full potential and protect against severe illness.
In the meantime, pharma giant Novavax’s (NASDAQ:NVAX) latest COVID-19 booster is awaiting FDA clearance. Following the news that only Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) vaccines received a go, NVAX shares plunged 12.9% in regular trading on September 11.
We looked at the performance of the four vaccine makers through the TipRanks Stock Comparison tool. Evidently, Wall Street is cautiously optimistic about all vaccine maker stocks as the extraordinary performance witnessed during the pandemic has phased out. Nonetheless, both Moderna and Pfizer score an outperformance Smart Score of 8 and 9, respectively. However, the average Novavax price target has the highest upside potential of 219.9% from current levels.
