Moderna will seek EUA for its vaccine for children under 6
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock is down 4.2% at at $178.82 this morning, after the company released efficacy data for its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine for children under 6 years of age. According to Moderna, the vaccine has around a 44% efficacy rate at preventing infection from omicron in Children 6 months to under 2 years old, and is about 38% effective for children aged 2 to 5. The company will ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine in children under 6 as soon as possible.
On the charts, Moderna stock scraped the $120 level earlier in the month, an area that hadn't been encountered for nearly 12 months. Now, the shares are up 16.7% for the month and have toppled several shorter-term moving averages along the way.
The options pits have been pessimistic, with puts popular over the last 10 weeks. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), MRNA sports a 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.12 that sits higher than 94% of annual readings. This suggests long puts are getting picked up at a much quicker-than-usual pace.
It's also worth noting the equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at 97 out of 100, suggesting the stock has exceeded options traders' volatility expectations in the past year.