A new panel of U.S. vaccine advisers appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will vote on flu shots that contain a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal and discuss recommendations for measles shot at an upcoming meeting.
The advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also vote on who should receive the shots for respiratory syncytial virus and influenza at the meeting scheduled for June 25 and 26, according to a draft agenda posted on CDC's website.
Experts will discuss proposed recommendations whether a shot to prevent measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) should be given to children under 5 years of age.
The agenda did not specify who will be presenting on MMRV or thimerasol at the meeting.
Thimerosal has been used for decades in the United States in vials for medicines and vaccines that containing more than one dose, according to CDC.