A scheduled meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee, set for March to determine the flu strains for the upcoming season’s vaccine, has been canceled, as reported by a committee member on Wednesday.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, shared that federal health authorities informed members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee about the cancellation via email, which provided no rationale for the decision.

A representative from the Department of Health and Human Services, the body that oversees the FDA, has yet to respond to inquiries regarding this matter.

This cancellation arises amid a notably severe flu season in the United States, during which there have been 86 pediatric fatalities and approximately 19,000 deaths among adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Typically, the FDA holds this meeting each spring to gather recommendations on which flu strains should be incorporated into the next vaccine. These discussions are crucial because the flu virus undergoes variations annually, necessitating updates to the vaccine to ensure maximum efficacy. Timing the decision in spring allows manufacturers ample opportunity to produce the vaccines in time for the fall.

For the 2024-2025 flu season, pharmaceutical companies are expected to provide around 148 million doses of flu vaccines to the U.S., as indicated by the CDC. The implications of this canceled meeting for Americans seeking flu vaccinations next season remain uncertain.

Meanwhile, a World Health Organization advisory committee is set to gather on Friday to decide which strains will be included in the upcoming flu vaccines for the Northern Hemisphere. This meeting usually informs the FDA’s decisions regarding strain selection.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to initiate the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO. Subsequently, federal health officials received directives to cease communication with the WHO.

According to Stat News, despite this, officials from both the FDA and CDC will participate virtually in the WHO assembly.

This cancellation follows closely on the heels of a recent postponed CDC vaccine advisory meeting, which was slated for a presentation and voting on multiple vaccine proposals, including GSK’s meningococcal vaccine and a new chikungunya vaccine, along with the recently approved at-home nasal influenza spray.

The cancellation of the March meeting raises concerns among scientists that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his anti-vaccine stance, may compromise the U.S. vaccine regulatory framework, potentially leading to a rise in preventable diseases.

On the same day, Texas health officials reported the death of an unvaccinated child from measles, marking the first such fatality in a decade, amidst an outbreak contributing to at least 124 cases, predominantly in children.

Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital and an advisor to the FDA, commented, “It’s a bad day for infectious diseases.”