FDA cancels meeting to pick flu vaccine components for next season
Key takeaways:
- The meeting was scheduled for March 13.
- The FDA said it will make recommendations to manufacturers in time for vaccines to be available for next flu season.
The FDA canceled a meeting of vaccine advisors scheduled for next month to decide the composition of next season’s influenza vaccines, an HHS official confirmed Thursday.
The official told Healio the FDA still planned to make recommendations to vaccine manufacturers about what components should be included in next season’s vaccines.
Those recommendations usually come from the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), a group of experts that regularly advises the FDA on vaccine matters. The VRBPAC meets annually, usually in March, to discuss which influenza viruses should be included in vaccines for the upcoming influenza season.
HHS director of communications Andrew G. Nixon confirmed to Healio that the VRBPAC meeting scheduled for March 13 to discuss next season’s vaccine composition was canceled and indicated that the FDA would make the decision without input from the committee.
“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” Nixon said.
It was the second federal vaccine advisory committee meeting that was canceled in as many weeks. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was supposed to meet and vote on recommendations related to meningococcal and chikungunya vaccines and the first self-administered influenza vaccine, but that meeting was postponed indefinitely last week.
They were the first two vaccine advisory committee meetings since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has criticized federal vaccine advisors in the past, was sworn in as HHS director.
Historic season
In a statement, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said canceling the meeting risks disrupting the manufacturing process for next season’s vaccines.
The components of seasonal influenza vaccines — currently, two A viruses and one B virus — are selected based on presently circulating viruses and projections about which viruses are likely to circulate the following season. Vaccines take months to manufacture and are usually shipped mid-summer.
“Cancelling a critically important FDA 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,” IDSA President Tina Tan, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS, FAAP, said in a statement.
“This decision — and other federal efforts to undermine well-established science about vaccine safety — puts everyone at risk, especially when we are currently experiencing the worst U.S. flu season in more than a decade,” Tan said.
In recent weeks, influenza activity in the U.S. soared to its highest level in 15 years, with the proportion of outpatient and ED visits attributed to influenza-like illness reaching a level not seen since the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
As of Feb. 15, the most recent week with data, there have been at least 33 million illnesses, 430,000 hospitalizations and 19,000 deaths so far this season attributable to influenza, according to CDC estimates.
Vaccine has been effective
Interim data published Thursday show that this season’s influenza vaccine has reduced the risk for medically attended illness and hospitalization among children and adults.
Aaron M. Frutos, PhD, an officer in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, and colleagues analyzed data from four vaccine effectiveness networks encompassing more than 44,000 children and adolescents younger than age 18 years and 139,000 adults aged 18 years and older and reported their findings in MMWR.
Among children and adolescents, the effectiveness of this season’s vaccine ranged from 32% to 60% against medically attended influenza and 63% to 78% against the need for hospitalization, Frutos and colleagues reported.
Among adults, effectiveness ranged from 35% to 54% against medically attended illness and 41% to 55% against the need for hospitalization.
“These interim estimates of 2024-25 VE indicate that influenza vaccination was effective in preventing medically attended influenza-associated illness in children, adolescents and adults in the United States,” Frutos and colleagues wrote.
“Given the high levels of influenza activity and severity in the United States this season, increasing influenza vaccination could reduce influenza-associated illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations and deaths,” the wrote.
References:
- Frutos AM, et al. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep MMWR. 2025;doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7406ac.
- CDC. Fluview: Weekly US influenza surveillance report: Key updates for week 7, ending February 15, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-07.html. Updated Feb. 21, 2025. Accessed Feb. 27, 2025.
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