By Terrence Rudd

New CDC director also backed a new option for infant immunization against RSV

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month quietly endorsed recommendations from his handpicked vaccine advisors that everyone in the U.S. ages 6 months and older receive a flu shot for the upcoming season.

The backdated notice appeared this week on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) recommendations without fanfare -- a contrast to Kennedy's July announcement endorsing the removal of thimerosal from flu vaccines despite the preservative's long safety record.

"ACIP reaffirms the recommendations for routine annual influenza vaccination of all persons aged ≥6 months who do not have contraindications for the 2025-2026 season," the ACIP page states. "With no current CDC Director and pending confirmation of a new CDC Director, this recommendation was adopted by the HHS Secretary on July 22, 2025, and is now an official recommendation of the CDC."

A new CDC director, Susan Monarez, PhD, is now in place.

Quiet on Vaccine Endorsements, Loud on Vaccine Attacks

In the past, ACIP recommendations such as flu vaccination guidance have typically been endorsed quickly by CDC directors, often the same day of the influential group's meetings. Kennedy filled in on endorsing ACIP recommendations amid the absence of a CDC director, but his delayed decisions left some recommendations in limbo for weeks or months, creating uncertainty given his history of anti-vaccine activism and vaccine misinformation.

Kennedy's false claims have extended to flu vaccines as well, including saying there is "zero evidence that the flu shot prevents any hospitalizations or any deaths" and that people who get the flu shot are "six times more likely to give the flu to somebody else."

Vaccine policies have become more restrictive under Kennedy's tenure as well. In May, FDA leaders announced plans to begin restricting COVID-19 vaccination, and HHS just this week announced it was canceling $500 million in funding and winding down development of mRNA vaccines for respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and influenza.

CDC Director Backs New RSV Antibody

Another ACIP recommendation from the June meeting earned an endorsement Aug. 4 from Monarez. ACIP called for infants younger than 8 months who were born during or entering their first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season who are not protected by maternal vaccination to receive one dose of clesrovimab (Enflonsia). The monoclonal antibody joins a similar long-acting shot, nirsevimab (Beyfortus) as an option for this population.