While a worse-than-usual flu season burdens hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) canceled an early March meeting where scientists planned to choose which strains of flu the 2025-26 season’s vaccines should protect against. Because production of enough flu shots for the U.S. population takes six months, the action by HHS — which is led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — could leave Americans with even less protection next winter against the sometimes deadly disease.
- Vaccine meeting to prepare for coming winter’s flu season canceled [The Washington Post]