With no U.S. CDC director in place yet, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy recently adopted two vaccine recommendations from the April meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), making them official CDC recommendations and ensuring coverage of the vaccines for the specified populations.
In subpoenaing a former Pfizer Inc. official to appear before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee July 22, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, signaled legislative steps Congress may take in response to allegations that Pfizer slow-walked its COVID-19 vaccine development in 2020 so the trial results wouldn’t have to be disclosed until after the presidential election.
While the first meeting of the U.S. CDC’s newly minted Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) is now recent history, questions about the makeup of the committee and its future direction remain unanswered.
Solid phase III efficacy results for Moderna Inc.’s seasonal influenza vaccine, mRNA-1010, may lead the company to resubmit a BLA for a flu/COVID-19 combo shot it has been developing. The top-line data showed Moderna’s flu vaccine produced a superior relative efficacy that was 26.6% higher than a comparator standard-dose seasonal influenza vaccine in people ages 50 and older.
Experts in mRNA convened at the Global Vaccine Forum (GVF) 2025 to weigh the present and future of vaccine technology, including emerging innovations in self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) and drug delivery platforms. “Breakthroughs in mRNA and next-generation vaccine platforms are revolutionizing how we prepare for and respond to global health challenges,” Jerome H. Kim, International Vaccine Institute (IVI) director general, told the audience in Seoul, South Korea, June 19.
Despite the controversies swirling around the June meeting of the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), the reconstituted committee delivered good news to Merck & Co. Inc. when it voted 5-2 June 26 to recommend that infants younger than 8 months who are not protected by maternal vaccination get one dose of a monoclonal as they head into their first respiratory syncytial virus season.
The U.S. FDA said June 25 it has required updates to the prescribing labels of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines Comirnaty and Spikevax to include new safety information on the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis.
Although the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) was scheduled to vote June 25 on recommendations for maternal and pediatric respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, it adjourned by pushing that vote to the second day of the meeting. But before leaving for the day, it got an earful of comments from pediatricians, nurses and even a retired FDA scientist urging the CDC to reinstate the 17 committee members Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy dismissed two weeks earlier and replaced with eight new members.
Barely a day before the eight new members of the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) are supposed to hold their first meeting, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., called for the June 25 meeting to be postponed.
Post pandemic, Moderna Inc. is broadening the applications of mRNA technology to cancer, rare diseases, latent viruses and respiratory viruses, “taking advantage” of the revenue generated by Spikevax (elasomeran), its mRNA-based vaccine for COVID-19.
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