Pfizer CEO Reportedly Says Vaccine Approvals Getting Harder

Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla reportedly said on Wednesday that vaccines are harder to get approved while Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversees the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, is currently attempting to overhaul vaccine policies in the U.S.

“It’s not harder to get drug approvals right now. It’s harder to get vaccine approvals,” Bourla said at a CNBC event in Washington, as reported by Bloomberg.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration under Kennedy Jr. in May said they would adopt a new COVID-19 vaccination regulatory framework, requiring new clinical trials to approve annual vaccine booster shots in healthy individuals under 65.

The agency said that it will approve vaccines for high-risk persons such as adults 65 and older and individuals above the age of six months with risk factors putting them at high risk for severe infections, but demand “robust, gold-standard data” for healthy people under 65.

The agency approved an updated version of a COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech in August, but only for use in senior adults as well as in younger individuals who are at risk of severe outcomes from the infection.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around PFE stock rose from ‘bearish’ to ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at ‘low’ levels.

On Tuesday, Bourla spoke at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Gala in New York and said that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry should work more collaboratively with China, whose “dramatic speed, cost and scale” have reshaped global drug development.

Late last month, Pfizer also inked a deal with the Trump administration, which features steep price cuts on several drugs and a $70 billion U.S. investment in return for a three-year exemption from the President’s pharmaceutical tariffs.

PFE stock is down by 9% this year and by about 17% over the past 12 months. 

Read also: Sana Biotech Stock Jumps A Whopping 35% After Eric Jackson Calls It ‘Next 100-Bagger Platform’

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