Moderna rises after FDA grants limited approval for next-gen Covid vaccine

Moderna rose about 4% in early trading after the Food and Drug Administration granted limited approval for its new COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA approved Moderna’s second-generation vaccine for all adults over 65 and anyone over 12 who has at least one risk factor for severe disease, the company announced on Saturday. Its first vaccine was previously approved for all people age 12 and older.

This is the latest sign that the Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is aiming to curb the prevalence of immunizations. The FDA has signaled it would narrow eligibility for Moderna’s first vaccine and HHS canceled funding to the company to develop a bird flu vaccine last week.

Moderna, which still makes most of its revenue from Covid vaccines, is down more than 36% so far this year, but investors have reacted positively to the FDA’s stance on the shots so far. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said on Thursday that narrowing the eligibility while focusing on high-risk individuals could actually lead to more immunizations.

According to the FDA’s estimates, the elderly and high-risk population is 100 million Americans, compared to the 40 million who were vaccinated in the 2024-25 season.

“If this administration is going to really try to push vaccination for people at high risk, I’m in because this is potentially a larger market than some of the confusion we have seen in the past and some of the skepticism that we have seen in the past,” Bancel said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference.