RFK comments on first death in a decade due to measles outbreak
A school-aged child, who was not vaccinated, died in Texas from measles. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it’s “not unusual.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed on Thursday that a meeting of its independent advisory panel to discuss the composition of this year’s flu vaccine has been canceled and the regulator would instead make recommendations later.
The statement confirms a report by Reuters that the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting, scheduled for March 13, has been canceled.
An FDA spokesperson said the agency would make its recommendations to manufacturers public in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-26 influenza season. No reason was given for the cancellation.
It is the second disruption to vaccine-related advisory panels since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the helm at the Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month.
The health department postponed a meeting of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines last week to allow for more public comment.
The cancellations sparked concern by some 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, said in a statement.
Tan noted that the U.S. is in the midst of its worst flu season in over a decade.
But former U.S. health official Rick Bright downplayed the ramifications of the flu meeting’s cancellation, noting that several U.S. experts have participated in meetings with the World Health Organization on strain selection for 2025-6 flu vaccines.
“FDA has rarely (if ever) not agreed with WHO strains,” Bright wrote on X. “This is not the place to burn midnight oil fretting about a meeting.”
