FDA cancels vaccine advisory meeting for choosing flu strains for next season’s shots

A crucial March meeting of vaccine advisors to the Food and Drug Administration has been canceled without explanation, a member of the advisory panel told CNBC on Wednesday. 

The meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is held every March to select flu strains for shots released in the upcoming fall and winter. 

But Dr. Paul Offit, a member of that panel, told CNBC that he received an email at 4:18 p.m. ET on Wednesday saying that the upcoming March 13 meeting is canceled. He said there was no indication of whether it will be rescheduled.

“Who canceled this meeting? Why did they cancel the meeting? Will manufacturers now turn to the World Health Organization to determine strains for this year’s influenza vaccines?” Offit told CNBC. 

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The canceled meeting comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now leads HHS, makes early moves that could affect vaccination uptake and policy in the U.S. Kennedy has a lengthy track record of being a vaccine skeptic. 

It also comes amid a particularly brutal flu season in the U.S. CDC data shows the flu has caused up to an estimated 910,000 hospitalizations since October, which puts the season on track to be the most severe in at least a decade.

Earlier this month, a separate meeting of advisors who help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make recommendations for vaccines was postponed to “accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting,” several news outlets reported. It is also unclear if that meeting will be rescheduled. 

Kennedy also said last week that he will review the childhood vaccine schedule despite earlier pledges not to do so. He promised that a new “Make America Healthy Again” commission would investigate vaccines, pesticides and antidepressants to see if they have contributed to a rise of chronic illness in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is weighing pulling funding for Moderna’s bird flu vaccine, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The country is grappling with a record-breaking bird flu outbreak that’s impacted dozens of cattle herds along with poultry flocks, which has sent egg prices skyrocketing. Its rapid spread in animals has raised concerns about broader spread to humans.”