Crude Oil Sharply Lower; Vaccine Efficacy in Doubt By Investing.com – Investing.com

Crude Oil Sharply Lower; Vaccine Efficacy in Doubt By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com -- Oil prices slumped Tuesday amid worries about the efficacy of the current vaccines to cope with the new Covid variant, raising fears of prolonged travel curbs and another hit to fuel demand.

By 9:15 AM ET (1415 GMT), futures traded 3.7% lower at $67.39 a barrel, while the contract fell 3.9% to $70.35.

U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were down 2.8% at $2.9766 a gallon.

Sparking the latest selloff were comments from Moderna (NASDAQ:) CEO, Stephane Bancel, in a Financial Times interview, that existing vaccines would struggle to cope with the Omicron variant, predicting a "material drop" in their effectiveness.

Regeneron (NASDAQ:) added to the concerns by releasing a statement on Tuesday indicating that analysis suggested its Covid-19 antibody cocktail could have reduced activity against the new variant.

A number of countries worldwide have already imposed travel curbs on travelers from southern Africa, where the Omicron variant was first discovered, and worries are mounting that these restrictions could last for a while if vaccines have to be reconfigured.

“It is still too early to sensibly assess the risk that omicron poses and this uncertainty is likely to add further