The Kennedy curse is hitting Australia's vaccine giant
Any fear introduced around vaccines will be negative for this business. And investors are taking heed.
'Following a wave of vaccine-related regulatory leadership changes in the US in recent months, including the most recent overhaul of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel last week, we have tempered our Seqirus revenue growth forecasts,' broker Bell Potter said.
Meanwhile, financial services company Morningstar noted this week that 'sales in Seqirus are challenged by rising vaccine hesitancy, which is likely to worsen as vaccine safety comes under increasing scrutiny from the Donald Trump administration'.
Kennedy doesn't refer to himself as an anti-vaxxer, but he has form.
Last month, he scrapped a recommendation for children and pregnant women to receive COVID shots despite the cacophony from experts saying the shift will have devastating consequences, particularly for pregnant women and their babies. The experts cited studies that found vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalisation for pregnant women and infants younger than six months.
However, a way more worrying situation is unfolding, with potentially far-reaching consequences. A few weeks ago, Kennedy fired all 17 members of an independent committee of experts that advised the Centres for Disease Control on vaccination. He then named eight doctors and researchers, including four who have spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace them.
It's the latest move in his long-time crusade against vaccines. Kennedy had filed a petition with America's Food and Drug Administration in May 2021 demanding that officials rescind authorisation for existing COVID vaccines and refrain from approving any new ones.
Earlier this week, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who had supported Kennedy's appointment as health secretary, executed an about-face when he warned that 'although the appointees to ACIP [the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices] have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology.
'In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them,' he said.
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CSL's vaccine division is already swimming against a tide of three years of declining flu vaccination rates in the US, which has been aggravated by the entry of new competitors in the sector.
In general, analysts are still expecting the company to make good on its forecasts that pre-tax profits will rise by 10 to 13 per cent in the financial year ending next week.
America's vaccine battle may be a slow-burn issue, but it's one that is wiping the gloss off the CSL share price – and given the company is one of the five largest on the Australian stock exchange, it will be affecting the returns of almost every superannuation fund.
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