Benzinga | Jan 21, 2022 08:41AM EST

Lower COVID-19 Vaccine Sales Estimated Amid Less Severe Omicron Variant: Bloomberg

According to an analytics firm, Airfinity Ltd, evidence that omicron causes less-severe disease than earlier COVID-19 variants is expected to lower the growth in vaccine sales this year.

* Citing Airfinity, Bloomberg reports that COVID-19 vaccine sales, excluding China and India, will increase to about $85 billion in 2022, down about 28% from an earlier estimate of $118 billion.

* The analytics firm said that the revision was also due to lower prices paid by poorer nations for the shots.

* Related: Federal Health Officials Say Omicron-Targeted Shots May Not Be Necessary: WSJ.

* Demand for doses is still rising, and booster programs in high-income countries will be a key driver, according to Airfinity, which estimates that sales will climb almost 30% in 2022 from about $66 billion last year.

* Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) could record about $26 billion in sales in 2022, while Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and its partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) may clock about $43 billion.

* AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ:AZN) is expected to generate $4.3 billion in vaccine revenue.

* The firm's estimates differ from that of the drugmakers themselves.

* Pfizer has forecast $31 billion in 2022 COVID-19 vaccine sales.

* Prelim COVID-19 vaccine sales for Moderna stand at $18.5 billion, along with a potential $3.5 billion from boosters and other purchases.

* Price Action during the premarket session on the last check Friday: MRNA stock is down 1.27% at $165.40 PFE shares are down 0.30% at $53.89 BNTX stock is down 2.15% at $153.16 AZN shares are down 0.48% at $59.88