FDA cancels key meeting to select next season’s flu vaccines, raising concerns among experts

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on Thursday, confirmed the cancelation of an annual meeting of advisers scheduled to discuss the next season's influenza vaccines. This is the second disruption to a federal vaccine advisory panel since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., became the Health and Human Services Secretary. The health department had earlier postponed a meeting of advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccines.
The meeting of the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) was scheduled for March 13, however, the FDA sent an email on Wednesday cancelling it, according to Reuters. The meeting was planned to discuss the selection of strains to be included in the influenza virus vaccines for the 2025-2026 flu season. No reason was given for the cancellation.

According to the CDC, VRBPAC “makes the final decision about which vaccine viruses to include in the composition of domestic flu vaccines,” via research on which flu strains are “most likely to spread and cause illness.”
Flu vaccines, especially the ones made in chicken eggs require time to produce and hence rescheduling the meeting soon is vital, as vaccine makers will be able to prepare the shots for the next flu season.

The cancellations sparked concern among public health experts. "Cancelling a critically important Food and Drug Administration meeting that is vital to the development of effective vaccines for the next flu season is irresponsible, ignores science, and shows a lack of concern for the protection of the public from this potentially severe disease," Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told the media house in a statement.

According to some experts, the formulation of vaccines may take a six-month production cycle.
Meanwhile, on Jan. 31, the FDA’s website noted that “every flu season is different, and the substantial health impacts can vary widely from season to season, with some flu seasons being worse than others… The vaccine typically changes each year and contains the three flu virus strains that are expected to circulate and cause illness in the U.S. during the upcoming flu season. Your best defense against influenza disease is to get a flu vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration every year.”

This year, “The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to CBS News. However, a former health official told the outlet that it would be unprecedented to do so without the recommendation of the committee.
The previous year’s meeting took place on March 5.

The CDC recommends “everyone should be vaccinated by the end of October.” The flu usually infects the nose, throat, and lungs. The complications of flu can even be deadly, and cause sepsis, cardiac complications like myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), escalate to pneumonia, or cause multi-organ failure.
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