The fall COVID-19 vaccine season is starting slowly for Pfizer, with U.S. sales of its Comirnaty shots sinking 25 percent after federal regulators narrowed recommendations on who should get them.
Approval of updated shots also came several weeks later than usual, and Pfizer said Tuesday that hurt sales as well.
Many Americans get vaccinations in the fall to get protection from any disease surges in the coming winter.
Experts say interest in COVID-19 shots has been declining, and that trend could accelerate this fall due to anti-vaccine sentiment and confusion about whether the shots are necessary.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month stopped recommending COVID-19 shots for anyone, instead leaving the choice up to patients.
The government agency said it was adopting recommendations made by advisers selected by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Before this year, U.S. health officials recommended annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older. The idea was to update protection as the coronavirus evolves.
But that sentiment started to shift earlier this year when Kennedy, who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, said they were no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.
The shifting guidance caused some confusion in September, when updated shots began arriving at drug stores — the main place Americans go to get vaccinated.
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Some locations required prescriptions or started asking customers whether they had a condition that made them susceptible to a bad case of COVID-19.
The change also created questions about whether insurance coverage would continue. A major industry group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, has since clarified that its members will cover the shots.
CVS Health announced earlier this month that it will not require prescriptions at its stores and clinics.
Independent pharmacy owner Theresa Tolle said this fall has probably been one of the more confusing seasons for her customers. Tolle runs the independent Bay Street Pharmacy in Sebastian, Florida.
She said her COVID-19 vaccine business has been busy because she has an older patient population. Many still want the shots.
But she’s also had more customers tell her this year that they don’t want them.
“There’s just so many messages out there, they don’t know who to believe,” she said. “I’ve had people tell me they are afraid of it when they’ve had it many times.”
Pfizer saw U.S. Comirnaty sales drop to $870 million in the recently completed third quarter, from $1.16 billion in the same time frame last year. That came after vaccine sales rose in the first two quarters of the year.
Wall Street analysts also expect sales of Spikevax shots from Moderna to tumble about 50 percent in the third quarter, according to the data firm FactSet.
Moderna will report its third-quarter results Thursday.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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