Summary

The FDA canceled its March meeting to select flu strains for next season’s vaccine without explanation, raising concerns among health experts.

The annual meeting is important for updating flu shots, ensuring they are effective against evolving strains.

The cancellation follows a postponed CDC vaccine meeting and comes amid a severe flu season with 19,000 adult and 86 pediatric deaths.

The WHO will still hold its strain selection meeting, but U.S. officials have limited engagement due to Trump’s WHO withdrawal order.

Concerns grow over HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s influence on vaccine policy.

  • TomMasz
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    185 hours ago

    People are going to die. Given that many older people vote Republican, this could affect future elections, if there are any.

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
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      305 hours ago

      That’s what I thought would happen with COVID, but it doesn’t appear to have affected demographics by that much.

      Plus there’s a scary amount of young people that are somehow feeling into this right wing rabbit hole.

      • @stoly
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        42 hours ago

        oh it DID affect the election, but the problem was a whole lot of radicalized Gen-Zers who listen to Dan Savage and such swung to the right all of a sudden. basically the effect of the elder deaths was nullified.

      • TomMasz
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        125 hours ago

        There was a strong emphasis on masks/isolation/hand washing for COVID that you generally don’t see for the flu. We’ve had flu vaccines for so long that a lot of people don’t realize how serious it can be for the elderly. They may find out the hard way.

        • @stoly
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          52 hours ago

          People tend to think that the flu is a bad cold, not realizing that even healthy people can be laid up for 2 weeks at a time.