** 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))
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