*

Panel votes 5-2 in favor of respiratory syncytial virus

antibody

drug, Enflonsia

*

Panel's meeting faces scrutiny following Kennedy revamp of

panel

*

One focus of meeting is use of thimerosal in flu vaccines

(Adds background in paragraphs 2 and 6, details from the

meeting in paragraphs)

June 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.

Kennedy Jr.'s newly revamped vaccine advisory panel voted on

Thursday for recommending use of Merck's ( MRK ) RSV antibody

drug for infants 8 months or younger whose mothers did not

receive a preventive shot during pregnancy.

The panel voted 5-2 in favor of Merck's ( MRK ) respiratory

syncytial virus antibody drug, Enflonsia.

It also unanimously voted for Enflonsia to be added to

the CDC's Vaccines for Children program that provides vaccines

and therapies free of charge to those without insurance.

Voting on the RSV drug had initially been scheduled for

Wednesday, the first day of a two-day meeting of the panel set

up by the health secretary. The panel advises the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention on who should take specific

vaccines and related products and when they should be given

after Food and Drug Administration approval.

Kennedy, who has a long history of sowing doubt about

vaccine safety, this month fired all 17 members of a CDC vaccine

advisory panel and replaced them with his own picks.

One prominent medical group has boycotted the meeting, which

is unfolding under intense scrutiny following Kennedy's

revamping of the advisory panel, which includes several

individuals who have advocated against vaccines.

Before Thursday's vote, Retsef Levi, a professor of

operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management who

has called for the immediate withdrawal of COVID mRNA vaccines,

asked a series of questions about the safety of the antibody

class, which were addressed by experts at the FDA and the CDC.

QUESTIONS OVER THIMEROSAL

One area of focus at the second day of the meeting is a

presentation on the use of thimerosal in flu vaccines, a

mercury-based preservative that has been largely phased out of

U.S. vaccines.

That presentation is being led by Lyn Redwood, former

leader of the Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group

founded by Kennedy.

According to a CDC briefing document, there is no evidence

of harm caused by low doses of thimerosal in vaccines.

The CDC's background briefing on the topic, which was

released on Tuesday, has since been taken down from the agency's

website. The document was still part of the briefing documents

given to members of the panel, a source familiar with the matter

told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human

Services, which oversees the CDC, said the document had not gone

through the appropriate process before being posted.

Redwood's presentation initially included a reference to a

study that does not exist, the listed author told Reuters, but

it has since been updated to remove that reference.