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Let's just lead off with a quote from the article:
"Doctors around the US have anecdotally reported an uptick of children critically ill with the flu developing severe, life-threatening neurological complications, which can be marked by seizures, delirium, hallucinations, decreased consciousness, lethargy, personality changes, and abnormalities in brain imaging."
Yes, it says anecdotally. But when doctors start comparing notes and the notes are all pointing in the same direction, that means something. Additionally, Massachusetts has released a clinician advisory after detecting an uptick in neurological complications in pediatric flu patients.
Unfortunately the time scale is too short to know whether this is recoverable brain damage, a lot of neurological insult is not. This could be long-lasting, if not permanent, damage.
Unfortunately for the way that the USA collects flu data, there's no specific category that tracks this kind of problem unless there's a fatality, so there could be a serious or near fatal problem and it's hard to know about it. Some states do have their own reporting requirements, but it's not a uniform thing.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/02/the-flu-may-be-attacking-more-childrens-brains-than-usual-this-year/
And of course, there's more bad news. Next year's flu shot is at risk. But first, let's talk about how the flu shot is planned.
Every year the FDA and the WHO independently have meetings to plan the mix of flu vaccines. They do this early in the year because the production of the vaccines takes about six months. They monitor the southern hemisphere's winter - the northern hemisphere's summer - to see what flu strains happen as those are the ones most likely to travel north and be dominant for the north's flu season upcoming. Experts meet, discuss things, and plan the vaccine.
At least that's how it works in reasonably sane presidential administrations.
The FDA cancelled the spring meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) that was scheduled to take place in about two weeks time.
The World Health Organization will be meeting tomorrow in London for their discussion, presumably to release this information to northern hemisphere United Nations members. Both the FDA and CDC will be attending.
From the Gizmodo article: "Despite the VRBPAC cancellation, the FDA says that next year’s flu shot will not be in peril.
“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” an FDA spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email. The agency, however, offered no details as to how its expected recommendations will now be crafted.
The FDA’s decision is the latest move to raise questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to ensuring safe and effective vaccines for Americans. Earlier this month, the federal government abruptly delayed a meeting by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which helps decide the scheduling and insurance coverage of vaccines."
I'm guessing the FDA vaccine will either be a copy of the WHO vaccine, or it will be made up by the pharma companies that suck up the most to the current administration.
https://gizmodo.com/next-years-flu-shot-in-danger-after-fda-cancels-crucial-meeting-2000569241
"Doctors around the US have anecdotally reported an uptick of children critically ill with the flu developing severe, life-threatening neurological complications, which can be marked by seizures, delirium, hallucinations, decreased consciousness, lethargy, personality changes, and abnormalities in brain imaging."
Yes, it says anecdotally. But when doctors start comparing notes and the notes are all pointing in the same direction, that means something. Additionally, Massachusetts has released a clinician advisory after detecting an uptick in neurological complications in pediatric flu patients.
Unfortunately the time scale is too short to know whether this is recoverable brain damage, a lot of neurological insult is not. This could be long-lasting, if not permanent, damage.
Unfortunately for the way that the USA collects flu data, there's no specific category that tracks this kind of problem unless there's a fatality, so there could be a serious or near fatal problem and it's hard to know about it. Some states do have their own reporting requirements, but it's not a uniform thing.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/02/the-flu-may-be-attacking-more-childrens-brains-than-usual-this-year/
And of course, there's more bad news. Next year's flu shot is at risk. But first, let's talk about how the flu shot is planned.
Every year the FDA and the WHO independently have meetings to plan the mix of flu vaccines. They do this early in the year because the production of the vaccines takes about six months. They monitor the southern hemisphere's winter - the northern hemisphere's summer - to see what flu strains happen as those are the ones most likely to travel north and be dominant for the north's flu season upcoming. Experts meet, discuss things, and plan the vaccine.
At least that's how it works in reasonably sane presidential administrations.
The FDA cancelled the spring meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) that was scheduled to take place in about two weeks time.
The World Health Organization will be meeting tomorrow in London for their discussion, presumably to release this information to northern hemisphere United Nations members. Both the FDA and CDC will be attending.
From the Gizmodo article: "Despite the VRBPAC cancellation, the FDA says that next year’s flu shot will not be in peril.
“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” an FDA spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email. The agency, however, offered no details as to how its expected recommendations will now be crafted.
The FDA’s decision is the latest move to raise questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to ensuring safe and effective vaccines for Americans. Earlier this month, the federal government abruptly delayed a meeting by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which helps decide the scheduling and insurance coverage of vaccines."
I'm guessing the FDA vaccine will either be a copy of the WHO vaccine, or it will be made up by the pharma companies that suck up the most to the current administration.
https://gizmodo.com/next-years-flu-shot-in-danger-after-fda-cancels-crucial-meeting-2000569241
