CANCELLATION RAISES ALARM — The FDA’s confirmation Thursday that it’s canceled a regularly scheduled meeting of its external vaccine advisers set off alarms among public health experts who fear the decision is influenced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine skepticism. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee was supposed to meet on March 13 to recommend to the agency which flu strains should be included in influenza shots for the Northern Hemisphere’s next flu season. The vaccines’ makeup changes annually based on strains circulating worldwide, and the FDA’s recommendations to manufacturers are historically based on both the World Health Organization’s and the advisory committee’s input. The FDA said it “will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season.” The production timeline for the shots is around six months, so a March recommendation typically leads to products hitting pharmacy and provider shelves by September, when vaccination campaigns begin. Question marks: To Dr. Paul Offit, a committee member and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the cancellation raises more questions than answers. “Who's making those recommendations? So are we going to be meeting? So we don't need the advisory committee anymore?” he asked Lauren after hearing the agency statement. The FDA didn’t respond to questions about the cancellation, including who might make strain recommendations and why the agency called off the meeting. The irony: This likely means that the FDA rubber-stamps the WHO’s recommendations for the hemisphere, which will come into focus after the U.N. group meets today on flu strain selection. STAT reported this week that CDC and FDA representatives will participate virtually despite the Trump administration’s move to end U.S. membership in the organization. Rick Bright, a former federal health official who criticized the Trump administration’s early Covid-19 response, cautioned against interpreting the meeting’s cancellation as a “reason to panic” in posts on X. “FDA has rarely (if ever) not agreed w/ WHO strains (US has huge presence/influence on process),” he posted, adding: “This is not the place to burn midnight oil fretting about a [meeting].” Still, others signaled concern because of the transparency the committee provides the public into the strain selection process — especially at a time when vaccine hesitancy is growing and once-rare diseases like measles are spreading in pockets of the country. “Canceling transparency and public expert committees undermines vaccine confidence and sows doubt in a process that has long safeguarded public health,” the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease — a coalition of patients, providers and researchers — said in a statement. “The consequences are not theoretical. They’re deadly.” IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME BACK TO PRESCRIPTION PULSE. Are you part of DOGE working at the FDA this week? We want to hear from you. Send your tips to David Lim (dlim@politico.com or @davidalim) and Lauren Gardner (lgardner@politico.com or @Gardner_LM).
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