Analysts at Cantor, formerly headed by Lutnick, call for Kennedy's dismissal

(Reuters) - Analysts astatine Cantor Fitzgerald, formerly headed by the Trump administration's Secretary Of Commerce Howard Lutnick, called for the dismissal of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic, past week announced plans to reshape the national nationalist wellness agencies that could impact firing thousands of workers.

Cantor analysts Josh Schimmer and Eric Schmidt said successful a enactment connected Monday that Kennedy was "undermining the trusted enactment of wellness attraction successful this country. HHS cannot beryllium led by an anti-vax, conspiracy theorist with inadequate training."

The enactment came aft reports that the Food and Drug Administration's apical vaccine official, Peter Marks, was forced to resign, the astir high-profile exit astatine the regulator arsenic the Trump medication undertakes an overhaul of national wellness agencies.

Lutnick, the billionaire who was the CEO of Cantor for 40 years, stepped down past period to tally Trump's commerce department, handing implicit the reins of the brokerage successful portion to his 2 sons. Brandon Lutnick was appointed arsenic president and Kyle Lutnick was named arsenic enforcement vice president of Cantor.

Cantor Fitzgerald did not instantly respond to Reuters' petition for a comment.

The ouster of Marks led to a diminution successful biotech and vaccine stocks connected Monday. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF closed down 3.9%.

The Cantor analysts noted the autumn successful the stocks, but said their enactment had thing to bash with politics, stocks and biopharmaceutical sales, but with keeping lives retired of jeopardy.

They said they had learned from sources that Marks, who was consenting to enactment astatine the FDA, took a scientifically driven reappraisal of vaccine information and did not output to an anti-science docket that undermined nationalist health. The aforesaid could not beryllium said astir Kennedy, they said.

The analysts besides said the "administration has shown an quality to close course, to compromise and to marque changes wherever needed," adding they are "hopeful that the leaders successful Washington volition admit and admit the benefits that vaccines tin and should play successful protecting U.S. citizens."

(Reporting by Puyaan Singh successful Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)