A rescheduled meeting of a federal vaccine advisory committee no longer includes votes on which influenza vaccines to recommend to adults and children.
Along with a canceled flu vaccine ad campaign and a postponed meeting to select the strains used in the next flu shot, it’s the latest signal that the new leadership of the federal health agencies no longer views the influenza vaccine as a key item in its public health toolkit.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was originally scheduled for late February. It was postponed to “allow more time for public comment,” according to the committee’s website. The rescheduled meeting is set to take place April 15-16.
A notice posted on the Federal Register announced the agenda change. The document states that the meeting will include recommendation votes on three other vaccines for adults and one for children, but not the influenza vaccine. The meeting notice for the original February meeting date included scheduled votes on influenza vaccine recommendations for both adults and children.
According to the CDC’s website, the ACIP “develops recommendations on how to use vaccines to control disease in the United States,” which become official policy once they are adopted by the CDC director. The committee is composed of up to 19 voting members who are medical and public health experts, along with non-voting representatives from the federal health agencies and public health advocacy groups.
It’s not clear what prompted the change to the meeting agenda. An ACIP committee member, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said they hadn’t had a chance to ask about the change and likely wouldn’t before the meeting. The CDC and ACIP did not respond to requests for comment.
But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is well known for his former anti-vaccine advocacy work. In addition to the canceled flu ad campaign and flu strain selection meeting, Kennedy issued a stop-work order on an HHS contract with a company that’s developing a new COVID-19 vaccine. He’s also drawn ire for his lukewarm messaging on the ongoing measles outbreak.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate committee with HHS oversight, has raised concern about the delayed meeting on selecting strains for the next flu vaccine. He told NOTUS last month that he planned to address the issue with Kennedy directly.
Last year’s ACIP influenza vaccine recommendations stated that annual flu shots are recommended for anyone over the age of 6 months. But the number of doses distributed in the U.S. this flu season has so far trended lower than the prior three years. This winter has been a bad season for flu: It was the first classified as “high severity” by the CDC since the 2017-2018 season. The CDC estimates that so far this season, around 19,000 people have died.
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Margaret Manto is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Anna Kramer contributed reporting.