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The fall vaccine season has started slowly, with the updated COVID-19 vaccine getting approval several weeks later than previously expected, according to Pfizer.
Sales of Pfizer’s Comirnaty shots dropped 25% after US government decision narrow recommendations Who needs a jab early this year?
Many Americans get vaccinated in the fall to protect against any potential illnesses in the winter. Experts say interest COVID-19 shots The decline is coming, and that trend could be exacerbated this fall by anti-vaccine sentiment and confusion about whether the shots are necessary.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Last month it said it was adopting recommendations made by advisers selected by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
In doing so, the C.D.C. stopped recommending shots Not for anyone, instead leaving the decision up to patients.
Earlier this year, U.S. health officials — following the advice of infectious disease experts — recommended an annual COVID-19 booster for all Americans ages 6 months and older. The idea was to update protections as the coronavirus evolved.
But that sentiment began to change 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.
Dr. Amesh Adaza said vaccination rates have been “sub-optimal” in recent years, even for people considered at high risk for catching a bad case of COVID-19.
“It’s going to decline further this season,” a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said recently.
The changing guidance created some confusion in September, once the updated shots began arriving at drugstores, the main places where Americans go to get vaccinated. Some places are requiring prescriptions or have begun asking customers if they have any conditions that make them vulnerable to a bad case of COVID-19.
The change also raised questions about whether insurance coverage would continue. A major industry group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, has made clear that its members will cover the shots.
CVS Health announced earlier this month that it would not require prescriptions in its stores and clinics.
Independent pharmacy owner Theresa Tolle says this fall has probably been one of the more confusing seasons for her customers. Toole runs the independent Bay Street Pharmacy. Sebastian, Florida,
He said that his Covid-19 vaccine business is busy as he has a large number of patients. Many people still want shots. But this year he’s had more customers tell him they don’t want him.
“There are so many messages out there, they don’t know what to believe,” he said. “I have told people many times that they are afraid of this.”
Pfizer’s U.S. Comirnaty sales fell to $870 million in the recently completed third quarter, from $1.16 billion in the same period last year. This happened after vaccine sales increased in the first two quarters of the year.
wall Street Analysts also expect sales of Spikevax shots to rise Modern That will decline by about 50% in the third quarter, according to data firm FactSet.
Moderna will report its third quarter results on Thursday.