A meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration’s influenza vaccine advisory board set for March 13, 2025 has been canceled, according to multiple media reports, including Reuters.

The meeting of the US Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is part of an annual process of determining which influenza virus strains will be targeted by next season’s flu vaccine.

An FDA spokesperson said the agency would make its recommendations to manufacturers public in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-26 influenza season. No reason was given for the cancellation.
via Reuters

The VRBPAC meets every March, allowing vaccine manufacturers a 6-month production cycle to develop the flu vaccine in time for distribution in September, before the start of flu season, Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the committee, told CNN on Thursday.

Offit said he believes the FDA will conduct a data review on its own, without of the advice of the committee, but he does not anticipate effects to the vaccine production. “I don’t think there’s going to be much of an impact,” he said in a CNN interview. “I don’t think the public should worry…the influenza vaccine will be any less effective or less safe.”

Some experts fear, however, this will impact development of next season’s flu vaccine and threaten public health.

Infectious Diseases Society of America president Tina Tan, MD, called the cancellation “irresponsible.”

Cancelling a critically important Food and Drug Administration meeting that is vital to the development of effective flu vaccines for next flu season is irresponsible, ignores science and shows a lack of concern for the protection of the public from this potentially severe disease. 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 US flu season in more than a decade. 

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. If the FDA meeting is not immediately rescheduled, many lives that could be saved by vaccination will be lost. 
–Tina Tan, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS, FAAP — President, IDSA 

According to Reuters, the FDA cancellation follows a CDC vaccine advisory meeting that was postponed last week.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been scheduled to convene for three days in February, but was delayed to allow additional public comment on the process, Reuters reported.

Read more at www.reuters.com