Novavax Retail Traders Rally In Defense After RFK Jr.'s COVID-19 Vaccine Skepticism Sends Stock Tumbling

Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) plunged over 19.5% on Thursday after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cast doubts about the efficacy of the company's COVID-19 vaccine. 

Retail investors, however, held firm and pushed back against his remarks.

In an interview with CBS News on Thursday, Kennedy singled out the Novavax COVID-19 shot's single-antigen composition as the reason behind the delay in granting full approval. 

Novavax's shot, Nuvaxovid, has been available since 2022 under emergency use authorization. 

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had missed a key deadline to decide on the company's COVID-19 vaccine — just days after vaccine chief Peter Marks stepped down following reports of a clash with Kennedy. 

While the agency was expected to grant full approval, senior FDA officials are now reportedly holding off, saying the application needs more data and that approval is unlikely anytime soon.

"We're looking at that vaccine, and it is a single-antigen vaccine. And, for respiratory illnesses, the single-antigen vaccines have never worked," RFK Jr. told CBS.

"We are actually shifting our priorities to multiple-antigen vaccines. And NIH [National Institutes of Health] is already working on a number of those." 

On Stocktwits, message volume for Novavax soared by over 240% on Thursday, with sentiment turning 'extremely bullish' as retail investors lashed out against Kennedy's remarks and overwhelmingly defended Novavax's shot.

"Kennedy confuses transmission with decreasing symptomatic spread and efficacy… ironically, Novavax with Matrix-M happens to be the best COVID vaccine," one user wrote, referring to the company's adjuvant technology. 

Another said Kennedy's claim "is flat-out wrong" and there was "decades of data showing otherwise."  

"Investors are left in the dark, and confidence is slipping fast. Novavax needs leadership right now, not radio silence."

Novavax has not responded directly to Kennedy's claims but told multiple news outlets that its Biologics License Application (BLA) for its COVID-19 vaccine includes robust Phase 3 trial data demonstrating its safety and efficacy.

"We have not yet received an official response from the U.S. FDA regarding the status of our BLA," the company said.

Unlike the mRNA-based vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — which received full approval during the pandemic — Novavax's COVID-19 shot uses a protein-based platform.

Novavax stock is down over 33% this year but has gained nearly 25% over the past 12 months. Shares were up marginally in Thursday's after-hours trading.

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