Every year in March, the Food and Drug Administration meets to decide which viruses they will vaccinate for in the annual flu vaccine.
This year, inexplicably, that meeting was canceled.
But Dr. Paul Offit, a member of that panel, told CNBC that he received an email that the meeting would be canceled but did not say why.
I am going to take a wild guess. The annual flu vaccine does not go through clinical trials. It also is not tested as to whether or not it stops infection in humans. It is only tested to see if recipients produce antibodies. Maybe, just maybe, new management at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which manages the FDA, have indicated that they want real testing for the annual flu vaccine, which is why manufacturers may be slamming on the pause button?
What do you think of that hypothesis?
Speaking of vaccines, shares of Moderna were down 5% on Wednesday on news that HHS was “re-evaluating its $590 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine.”
