Vaccine manufacturers' stock prices fell. The WHO described the risk of a plague outbreak as low.
Novavax shares fell more than 13% during trading / Photo: Cristian Storto / Shutterstock.com
Shares of vaccine manufacturers plummeted during trading in New York on October 6. The sell-off was triggered by a WHO statement describing the risk of a plague epidemic as “low,” according to Yahoo Finance.
Novavax shares fell by more than 13%. Moderna shares dropped by nearly 8%. BioNTech shares fell by 2.4%, and Pfizer shares by less than 1%. Shares of Arcturus Therapeutics, a small biotechnology company developing mRNA-based drugs, fell 11%, while those of vaccine developer Emergent BioSolutions dropped 7%.
Context
On the night of October 2, a 28-year-old employee of a plague research institute died in Russia. The official cause of death was listed as “pneumonia of unknown origin.” Russian authorities stated that testing of samples taken from the deceased did not reveal “microorganisms related to her work” and that no infectious diseases were detected in those who had been in contact with her. Local media reported that about 200 people had previously been placed under quarantine, according to Reuters.
This news has sparked concern internationally, including in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump offered Russia assistance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Moscow is obligated to share additional information.
The World Health Organization announced at a briefing on October 6 that it had received information from Russia stating that no cases of plague had been reported in the city of Irkutsk, where the institute is located, according to Reuters. The international organization noted that, based on preliminary data, it assesses the risk for Irkutsk as “moderate or low,” “low” for Russia as a whole, and “very low” for the European Region.
According to the WHO, from 2019 to 2025, 3,847 suspected cases of plague in humans and 423 deaths were reported in 10 countries. Most of these occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. However, cases also occur sporadically in wealthier countries. In the U.S., a few cases are typically reported each year, mainly in the western states, where the bacteria circulate naturally among wild rodents and fleas, according to Bloomberg.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
