Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine sales tumble after government guidance on the shots narrows

By TOM MURPHY Associated Press Robustness Writer The fall COVID- vaccine season is starting slowly for Pfizer with U S sales of its Comirnaty shots sinking after federal regulators narrowed recommendations on who should get them Related Articles This day in History November Obama wins presidency in historic vote NYC voters are choosing their next mayor as Mamdani faces Cuomo and Sliwa in a generational battle California voters take up Democrats push for new congressional maps that could shape House control Virginia governor s race will test Trump and Democrats nationally and make history Trump s policies and inflation drive governor s race in New Jersey where GOP has been making gains Approval of updated shots also came several weeks later than usual and Pfizer explained Tuesday that hurt sales as well Multiple Americans get vaccinations in the fall to get protection from any disorder surges in the coming winter Experts say interest in COVID- shots has been declining and that trend could pick up this fall due to anti-vaccine sentiment and confusion about whether the shots are necessary The Centers for Illness Control and Prevention last month stopped recommending COVID- shots for anyone instead leaving the choice up to patients The ruling body agency commented it was adopting recommendations made by advisers picked by U S Physical condition Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr Before this year U S wellness officers following the advice of infectious ailment experts recommended annual COVID- boosters for all Americans ages 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- vaccines commented they were no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women Dr Amesh Adaja announced vaccine rates have been suboptimal in latest years even for people considered a high threat for catching a bad scenario of COVID- That s only going to fall off more this season the senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Medical Safeguard explained of late The shifting guidance caused specific confusion in September once updated shots began arriving at drugstores the main place Americans go to get vaccinated Particular locations required prescriptions or started asking customers if they had a condition that made them susceptible to a bad occurrence of COVID- The change also created questions about whether insurance coverage would continue A major industry group America s Robustness Insurance Plans has since clarified that its members will cover the shots CVS Wellbeing disclosed earlier this month that it will not require prescriptions at its stores and clinics Independent pharmacy owner Theresa Tolle says this fall has possibly been one of the more confusing seasons for her customers Tolle runs the independent Bay Street Pharmacy in Sebastian Florida She stated her COVID- vaccine business has been busy because she has an older sufferer population A great number of 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 a great number of messages out there they don t know who to believe she announced I ve had people tell me they are afraid of it when they ve had it plenty of times Pfizer saw U S Comirnaty sales drop to million in the lately completed third quarter from billion in the same time frame last year That came after vaccine sales rose the first two quarters of the year FILE The Pfizer logo is displayed at the company s headquarters Friday Feb in New York AP Photo Mark Lennihan File Wall Street analysts also expect sales of Spikevax shots from Moderna to tumble about in the third quarter according to the material firm FactSet Moderna will description its third-quarter results on Thursday