BUZZ-Vaccine makers end the year with mixed performance

** Vaccine stocks conclude 2024 with mixed results, with Pfizer PFE.N and Moderna MRNA.O set to end the year in the red, while Novavax NVAX.O and BioNTech BNTX.O are on track to snap a two-year losing streak

** Shares of Pfizer have fallen 7.6% this year, trading at less than half their value at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

** Shares of Moderna are down 58.6% this year, on track for third straight year of losses

** Shares of vaccine makers have come under pressure after President-elect Donald Trump picked anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services

** It is difficult to evaluate the exact impact this appointment could have on the industry until there is more information on specific policy proposals and priorities of the incoming administration on healthcare and the drug industry, brokerage J.P.Morgan had said in a note in November

** U.S.-listed shares of German vaccine maker BioNTech also fell more than 10% after the announcement; BNTX shares, however, are up ~7% this year

** NVAX is on track to end the year in the green, with shares up 65%; shares of the company hit a near two-year high after it struck a licensing deal worth at least $1.2 billion with Sanofi SASY.PA for its COVID-19 vaccine

(Reporting by Sneha S K)

((Sneha.SK@thomsonreuters.com;))