A meeting of a committee that advises the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on vaccine policy has been canceled, a committee member told Reuters. This is the second such disruption to a federal vaccine advisory panel since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the nation’s top health official earlier this month.
The meeting of the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee had been planned to take place on March 13, but the FDA sent an email on Wednesday cancelling it, committee member Dr. Paul Offit said. The committee had been set to discuss the selection of strains to be included in the influenza virus vaccines for the 2025 to 2026 flu season, Offit said.
No reason for the cancellation was given, he said.
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Dr. Stanley Perlman, another member of the committee said he had not yet been notified of the cancellation, but had been expecting it because the meeting had yet to be announced in the Federal Register. He said he had heard about the cancellation from another committee member.
Perlman said that flu vaccines – particularly those that are made in chicken eggs – can take time to produce and that it would be important to get the meeting scheduled soon so vaccine makers are able to have the shots ready for next flu season.
“I would think that we don’t have much time,” Perlman said.
He added he had been notified that a separate meeting of a subcommittee planned for later in March had also been canceled.
“There’s so much disruption going on at the FDA, the CDC and the NIH. I don’t know what the basis for (the cancellation) is,” Perlman said.
Spokespeople for the FDA and the Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The move comes after Kennedy was confirmed as the secretary of Health and Human Services earlier this month despite his criticism of agencies under his supervision, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy has denied being “anti-vaccine” and has said he would not prevent Americans from getting vaccinated.
Last week, HHS announced that a meeting of advisers for the CDC on vaccines was being postponed to allow for more public comment.