Advisory Board Meeting for Next Year's Flu Shot Canceled, Raising Concerns

An upcoming FDA vaccine advisory board meeting to “select virus strains for next year’s flu shot has been canceled.” CIDRAP has the news.

The meeting, set for March 13, of the “FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) was scheduled to make recommendations for the flu strains that will be included in the 2025-26 flu shot or nasal spray for the Northern Hemisphere. VRPBAC typically meets in March to make those recommendations, which are based on what flu strains are expected to be circulating in the fall and winter. The FDA uses the recommendations to direct vaccine manufacturers on the composition of the shots, which take roughly 6 months to produce.” The meeting was canceled without explanation.

There is concern that the cancellation will affect the timing and availability of next year’s flu shot. The FDA maintains it won’t have any impact on next year’s vaccine, but Infectious Diseases Society of America President Tina Tan said that “cancelling this meeting means vaccine makers may not have the vital information and time they need to produce and distribute targeted vaccines before the next flu season.”

This is the second vaccine-related meeting to be canceled or postponed in the past week by HHS, as HPN previously reported. These moves are adding to fears that new HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “a longtime vaccine critic, could undermine U.S. vaccine policies.”

In positive flu-vaccine-related news, a report from CDC researchers reported that “interim vaccine effectiveness (VE) data show the 2024-25 flu vaccine, while offering modest protection against infection, has been more protective against hospitalization.”