Sanofi sees near-term weakness in US vaccines sales due to antivax rhetoric

Adds further Sanofi CEO, quote from Pfizer CEO, background throughout

By Michael Erman

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Sanofi SASY.PA Chief Executive Paul Hudson said on Wednesday the company is likely to see some weakness in U.S. vaccine demand this year due to scepticism in immunizations fueled by "misinformation" from the Trump administration.

The administration of President Donald Trump has in the last year upended the process for recommending vaccines, with the U.S. earlier this month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu and three other diseases.

The French drugmaker has not yet provided a forecast for 2026 sales but expects demand to stabilise over time, Hudson said. Sanofi reported a decline in vaccine sales in the third quarter.

While the benefits of immunization remain clear, some parents and patients may hesitate in the short term, Hudson said at a media event during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

“We expected some softness and vaccine coverage rate because of all of the... misinformation that is going around,” he said.

Pfizer PFE.N CEO Albert Bourla had also said he was "seriously frustrated" with the administration's stance on vaccines, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time anti-vaccine activist, filled a key vaccine advisory committee with like-minded members after firing its independent experts.

"What is happening has zero scientific merit and is just serving an agenda which is political and antivax," Bourla said at a separate meeting with reporters on Monday.

He said he believes the rhetoric on vaccines is leading to lower vaccination rates in American children and an increase in disease.

Under Kennedy, the U.S. adopted a new childhood vaccine schedule last week without the agency’s usual outside expert review.

REMADE US VACCINE SCHEDULE

The new vaccine schedule reduced the number of diseases American children are recommended to be routinely immunized against to 11, a move decried by major medical groups. In 2024 - before Kennedy began his campaign to pare back childhood vaccinations - children in the U.S. were recommended for shots against 17 diseases.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorized the other childhood vaccinations as either targeted for high-risk groups or subject to shared-decision-making between parents and healthcare providers, which public health experts have said would likely lower vaccination rates.

Kennedy previously led efforts to drop universal recommendations for COVID-19 and hepatitis B shots for children, citing links to autism that scientists have repeatedly debunked.

Still, the policy uncertainty has created favorable conditions for vaccine-focused mergers and acquisitions, Sanofi's Hudson said.

"It's a good time to do vaccine M&A," he said, noting that fewer bidders are competing for assets. "With the uncertainty, if you're a short-term thinker, you don't move."

Looking ahead, he said combined flu-COVID shots could drive the next wave of vaccine uptake from 2027 or 2028, particularly among older adults.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

((mrinalika.roy@thomsonreuters.com;))