Vaccine makers fall on reports top FDA vaccine official to resign

Shares of vaccine makers fall premarket after the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported on Friday that Peter Marks, a top vaccine official at the U.S. FDA, has been pushed out of the agency

*Shares of Moderna MRNA.O fall 13.7%; Novavax NVAX.O slides 7.4% and Pfizer PFE.N down 1.6%

BioNTech BNTX.O down 5.5% and U.S.-listed shares of GSK Plc GSK.L fall 1.4%

Marks played a key role in U.S. President Donald Trump's first term in developing COVID-19 vaccines

Marks was given the choice by a Health and Human Services official to resign or be fired, according to WSJ, which also reported that his resignation is effective April 5

The stocks have been under pressure since Trump was elected for a second term, and selected well-known vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S.'s top health agency