** Brokerage BMO Capital Markets says U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s replacements for fired US CDC panel members read as a negative to vaccine-focused companies

** Late on Wednesday, Kennedy named eight members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers after abruptly firing all 17 members of the independent committee of experts

** The replacements include several who have advocated against vaccines

** The committee is likely to tighten recommendations for select vaccines or request for additional information ahead of these recommendations, says brokerage

** A decision to remove recommendations could hamper patient access through reduced insurance coverage - BMO

** Shares of vaccine makers Moderna MRNA.O and Pfizer PFE.N, both of which produce mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, fall marginally before the bell; Novavax NVAX.O, which does not utilize mRNA in its vaccine, gains marginally

** Up to last close, MRNA down 33.3%, PFE down 7.7% and NVAX down 11.8% YTD

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh)

((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com))