FX168 Financial News (Asia-Pacific) reported that the elected president of the usa, Donald Trump, announced his "new cabinet" nominees this week. He has chosen Robert Kennedy Jr. to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. On Thursday (November 14), the us stock market experienced a sharp decline, with the stock prices of vaccine manufacturers falling accordingly, as Kennedy is a well-known anti-vaccine advocate in the usa.

Watcher.Guru wrote in a tweet: "Pharmaceutical stocks fell after Trump appointed Robert Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services." #usaElection#

(Source: Twitter)

CNN reported that in the hour before the stock market closed on Thursday, as news reports about Trump's choices came out, the stock price of the covid vaccine manufacturer moderna dropped by 6%, pfizer's stock fell nearly 2%, and Novavax, which develops a protein-based covid vaccine, saw its stock price decline by nearly 6%.

(Source:CNN)

Kennedy has been one of the most famous anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists in the usa for many years, frequently spreading lies about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Last week, Kennedy stated that he would "immediately" begin studying the safety and efficacy of vaccines, but promised not to "take away anyone's vaccine."

Other vaccine-related companies were also affected. The German company biontech closed down by 7%, while glaxosmithkline in the united kingdom fell by 2%. Since the peak of the pandemic, vaccine companies in the usa have been struggling due to decreased demand.

In the past year, pfizer's stock price dropped by 11%, and moderna's stock price plummeted by 46%.

Although pfizer's revenue and profit soared during the peak of the pandemic — with total sales approaching 57 billion dollars in 2022, mainly thanks to its covid vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral drug Paxlovid — this boom faded in early 2023, as the company drastically lowered its expectations for covid-related sales. By then, public health institutions already had an effective vaccine stockpile to treat patients.

Following Trump's official announcement about young Kennedy, the stock market fell further.

Trump stated in a tweet: "The safety and health of all americans is the most important duty of any government, and the Department of Health and Human Services will play a vital role in helping to ensure that everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and food additives, which are precisely the substances that have led to this country's severe health crisis."