Day 2 of the highly anticipated first meeting of the revamped CDC vaccine advisory committee opened Thursday with a recommendation for Merck’s newly approved Enflonsia in young babies.
On Wednesday, the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices ran out of time before two scheduled votes on respiratory syncytial virus medications. Tacking the votes onto the beginning of the second day, the committee approved a recommendation for Merck’s monoclonal antibody Enflonsia to cover babies less than eight months who are not protected by maternal antibodies. Enflonsia itself won FDA approval just two weeks ago.
“I move for approval of this draft recommendation language, over,” Robert Malone said.
The vote was 5-2 in favor of the recommendation, with Retsef Levi saying he did not think the shot was ready for recommendation, and Vicky Pebsworth voting no without explanation.
The second vote was on an updated Vaccines for Children (VFC) resolution for preventing RSV, which would make Enflonsia available in the VFC program. VFC is a federally funded program that began in 1993 to provide vaccines to children without health insurance.
“It is extremely important that VFC cover this product. It is very important to ensure equity so that all children have access to these monoclonal antibodies,” Meissner said.
The vote on Enflonsia access in VFC was 7-0, including Levi and Pebsworth.
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