Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants to know why the country’s new Health Department secretary has cancelled vaccine-related advisory committee meetings that were scheduled to determine influenza vaccine strains in anticipation of the upcoming flu season.
Gillibrand announced Tuesday that she sent a letter to President Trump appointee and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., expressing her concern over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to postpone an advisory committee meeting on immunization practices that was supposed to be held in February to review, among other things, the safety and effectiveness of the flu vaccine.
Multiple media outlets reported that the February meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was postponed, according to a note on the agency’s website, to “accommodate public comment.” Media repots also noted that the the FDA canceled a March 13 meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee with no explanation given.
The FDA has said in a statement to the media that it intends to weigh in on the makeup of flu shots. The agency has not offered any indication on whether it would seek guidance from advisors or allow for public discussion or debate.
“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-26 influenza season,” the agency said in its statement.
While he has maintained that he is not “anti-vaccine,” Kennedy has in the past cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of immunizations and has also called into question research and regulations covering their use.
Gillibrand said the cancellations and postponements of the vaccine sessions were announced with no plans to reschedule, a move she said could endanger the lives of older adults and hinder the capacity of New York hospitals to treat patients. She noted that the cancellations come as New York has recorded 432,000 flu cases so far this season, a number that her office said “far surpasses” the total from last year’s flu season.
“New York state’s current flu outbreak is its worst in at least 15 years,” she said. “At one point in January, only 13% of hospital beds in New York were available due to the surge in influenza, along with other seasonal illnesses. This surge in demand not only jeopardizes the quality of care for influenza patients but also impacts the overall capacity of our health care infrastructure, potentially leading to preventable deaths across various medical conditions.”