The FDA has canceled its usual spring meeting with an advisory panel of vaccine experts to discuss next year's flu shots, reports NBC News. The move has done two things: drawn attention to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's skepticism about vaccines and raised questions about how effective next year's flu shots will be, per the New York Times. The latter is because of the timing: Next year's flu season may seem far off, but the panel—the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee—meets this time every year to pick the strains that will be targeted in the next vaccines.
"It's a six-month production cycle," Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia tells the Times. "So one can only assume that we're not picking flu strains this year." The newspaper notes that Offit has been a vocal critic of Kennedy. The FDA hasn't explained the move, and the Washington Post reports that members of the panel were advised in the cancellation email not to speak with reporters. A similar panel meeting with the CDC was canceled last week.
The FDA meeting was to take place on March 13, following a World Health Organization meeting with its own advisory committee on Friday to discuss the same issue. The WHO meeting typically influences the FDA meeting, notes NBC. While the Trump administration has begun cutting ties with WHO, a report in STAT News says representatives from the CDC and the FDA would participate virtually. At this point, it's impossible to say what the effect of all this will have on next year's flu shots in the US. (This year's flu season appears to be particularly potent.)
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