A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for March to select the strains to be included in next season's flu shot has been canceled, said Dr. Paul Offit, one of the committee members, yesterday. He said they offered no explanation for the cancellation. The Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment. Via NBC News:
The cancelation comes as the United States is in the midst of a particularly severe flu season. So far, there have been 86 deaths in children and 19,000 deaths in adults this season, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The FDA typically convenes the meeting every spring to get recommendations on which strains should be included in the upcoming flu vaccine.
The meetings are important because the flu virus changes year to year, and the vaccine must be updated to provide the best protection. Deciding on the strains in the spring gives vaccine manufacturers enough time to produce the shots to be ready for the fall.
The canceled FDA advisory meeting comes just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.
Is HHS secretary Robert "The F Is For Fuckhead" Kennedy undermining the vaccine regulatory process in the U.S., leading inevitably to a resurgence of preventable diseases? Magic 8 Ball says "fucking likely."
Call your congressperson's office and ask what they're going to do to prevent that. 202-224-3121.
