A planned meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee to discuss the upcoming flu vaccine has been canceled, marking the second such interruption of a meeting involving federal vaccine policy experts since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his skepticism towards vaccines, took over as the Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier this month.
Key Facts
Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, reported that the agency communicated via email on Wednesday that the meeting scheduled for March 13 has been called off. This session was intended to decide which strains of the influenza virus would be included in the vaccine for the 2025-26 flu season. Offit, a critic of Kennedy, expressed to the New York Times that no rationale was provided for the cancellation. Given the six-month production timeline for flu vaccines, he speculates that this decision means “we’re not picking flu strains this year.” Another committee member, Dr. Stanley Perlman, mentioned to Reuters that he had not been notified about the cancellation but was anticipating it since the meeting had not been listed in the Federal Register. Neither the FDA nor Kennedy has commented on the cancellation at this time.
Tangent
This is the second key vaccine panel meeting at the federal level to be canceled since Kennedy’s confirmation earlier this month. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), tasked with advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, was slated to conduct a three-day meeting in Atlanta this week. However, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed last week that the meeting had been postponed, without specifying a new date. The ACIP usually convenes three times a year and had been a focus of Kennedy’s criticisms during his confirmation process. The postponed agenda included discussions on a new meningitis vaccine, a shot aimed at the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus, as well as RSV and influenza vaccines.
Big Number
19,000. This figure represents the total deaths attributed to influenza reported during the current 2024-25 flu season, according to the CDC’s tracker, making it one of the most severe seasons in recent years. This includes 86 pediatric fatalities.
Key Background
Kennedy, who has previously propagated conspiracy theories about vaccines—such as the debunked notion that childhood vaccines cause autism—was confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier this month. The Senate approved his nomination by a vote of 52-48, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., being the only Republican to oppose him, citing concerns over Kennedy’s record of disseminating dangerous conspiracy theories and undermining public health trust. During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy faced scrutiny from lawmakers about his vaccine views, during which he asserted that he is not “anti-vaccine” but rather “pro-safety.”
Chief Critic
In a recent Substack post critiquing Kennedy, Offit stated, “In his presidential campaign, RFK Jr. said that he wanted to ‘give infectious diseases a break for eight years.’ Unfortunately, as cases of measles mount and bird flu lurks on the fringes, infectious diseases aren’t likely to give us a break. This is what you get when you ask an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist, and conspiracy theorist to head the nation’s largest public health agency.”
