Pharma stocks took a fresh hit on Friday following a report in The Washington Post that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reportedly plans to link COVID-19 vaccines with the deaths of 25 minors.

Moderna shares fell 7.4% Friday to their lowest level since March 2020. The drop brought the drugmaker’s year-to-date slump to more than 44%. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company is one of two manufacturers of approved mRNA coronavirus vaccines.

The other mRNA COVID-19 vaccine maker, Pfizer, saw its own shares fall 3.9% on Friday. Shares of its partner on the shot, BioNTech, tumbled 7.3%, while stocks in another vaccine maker, Novavax, were down 3.6%.

The pharma companies’ stock slump stands in contrast to the market as a whole, with the S&P 500 rising more than 12% this year.

FDA off

See Full Page