Admin_Adham
The Long View on Flu
Historically, US health agencies have collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global health agencies in a spring meeting to decide which strains of influenza virus should be included in the vaccine for the northern hemisphere for the following year.
However, given the current US divestment from WHO in the wake of President Trump’s order, the in-person participation of the US agencies in the annual meeting remains unclear, according to a WHO spokesperson.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and other partners in the US have been invited to this meeting, but we don’t know if they will come,” the spokesperson told Medscape Medical News.
However, data collected by US agencies in advance of President Trump’s order may still inform the discussion. Data to inform the vaccine composition are available from the United States up to January 20, 2025, according to the spokesperson.
“As an immediate measure, WHO is working with Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System members and other WHO Collaborating Centres to generate additional data to bridge the gap in information coming from the US, for example, from Canada and Mexico,” the spokesperson said.
The goal of the meeting is to select the components of the next season’s flu vaccine based on data including which flu viruses are currently causing illness, how much these viruses are spreading, and how well the previous season’s vaccine did in protecting the public, according to the CDC website.
The flu vaccine composition meeting will include recommendations for seasonal flu vaccines and for candidate vaccine viruses for influenza with pandemic potential, the WHO spokesperson told Medscape Medical News, and data from national influenza centers in 133 Member States are used for the WHO to determine optimal vaccine composition.
Although no decision has been made on US attendance, “WHO welcomes active technical exchange with the USA to have the CDC and other US experts resume their participation in activities including advisory groups and discussions to develop guidance and review research,” according to the spokesperson.
