PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Pfizer reported a 25 percent drop in sales of its Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine in the third quarter, citing narrowed U.S. recommendations and declining interest in the shots.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Pfizer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), independent pharmacies, and healthcare providers.

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📍WHEN & WHERE: The third quarter of 2025, with reports from pharmacies and healthcare providers across the United States.

💬KEY QUOTE: “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,” said Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in May.

🎯IMPACT: In addition to Pfizer’s revenue drop, Wall Street analysts are also forecasting a steep decline in sales for Moderna’s Spikevax shots, with expectations of a 50 percent drop in third-quarter revenue.

Pfizer has reported a significant drop in sales of its Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine during the third quarter of 2025. Sales fell to $870 million from $1.16 billion in the same period last year. This decline follows the U.S. government’s decision to narrow vaccine recommendations earlier this year, which Pfizer claims contributed to a slower fall vaccination season.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently adopted new guidelines, leaving the decision to receive COVID-19 vaccines up to patients rather than recommending them universally. The National Pulse reported in May that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the CDC removed the COVID-19 vaccine from its immunization schedule recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. “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,” he said at the time.

Physicians such as Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have supported the move, with Bhattacharya calling it “common sense and good science.” Makary noted that several other nations have already stopped recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

Wall Street analysts are also forecasting a steep decline in sales for Moderna’s Spikevax shots, with expectations of a 50 percent drop in third-quarter revenue. Moderna is set to release its quarterly earnings report later this week.

Image by Myke Sena/MS.

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