A woman in San Antonio, Texas, receives her second Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shot.
Sergio Flores/Getty Images
- Novavax and Moderna shares were under pressure Friday after the Supreme Court struck down a vaccine mandate for private companies.
- The ruling blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing mandate at private companies with more than 100 employees.
- Novavax and Moderna shares closed at multi-month lows on Thursday.
Shares of Novavax and Moderna trimmed losses Friday after the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing mandate for certain private companies was blocked by the Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 ruling issued Thursday afternoon, the court’s conservative majority wrote in an unsigned opinion that the administration likely didn’t hold the authority to impose its policy.
Novavax shares slumped 10% to $101.10 then pared the loss to 5%. Moderna declined 3.5% to $202.88 before narrowing the pullback to 2.8%.
Novavax stock closed Thursday’s session down by 13.7% at $112.38, the lowest closing price since December 2020. For Moderna, its 5.7% fall in the previous session to $210.17 marked the lowest close since June 2021.
Shares of vaccine maker Pfizer were down by a more modest 0.6%. The stock finished Thursday with a 2% loss.
“Although COVID-19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most,” the court wrote.
The mandate had been put in place for private companies with a workforce of more than 100 employees. The court’s liberal justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor held the dissenting opinion of the majority’s ruling.
The court did allow the Biden administration’s requirement for vaccines for healthcare workers at federally funded facilities to take effect.
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