Feb 4 (Reuters) - Shares of vaccine makers and packaged

food companies fell on Tuesday after President Donald Trump's

pick for U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., moved

closer to the job after a favorable vote by a Senate panel.

The vote by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee paves the way

for the full Senate to vote to confirm him as secretary of the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as soon as this

week.

Kennedy, who has faced opposition from health groups and

Democrats, has long sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of

vaccines that have helped curb disease and prevent deaths for

decades. He disputes the anti-vaccine characterization and has

said he would not prevent Americans from getting inoculations.

Kennedy said during his run for U.S. president as an

independent that he wanted to "Make America Healthy Again,"

calling out additives, chemicals and sugar used in packaged

foods and sodas as culprits for causing chronic illness in the

United States.

Pfizer ( PFE ) was down 1.8%, along with U.S. shares of its

COVID-19 vaccine partner, BioNTech , which

fell 2%. Moderna ( MRNA ) dropped 1.8% and Novavax ( NVAX )

slipped 2.3%.

Shares of packaged food companies including Hershey,

Mondelez ( MDLZ ), Kraft Heinz ( KHC ), General Mills ( GIS )

were all down 2%.