[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 29 (Thursday, February 12, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6648-6649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-02787]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. FDA-2026-N-0826]
Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee;
Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for
Comments--United States (U.S.) 2026-2027 Influenza Vaccine Strain
Composition
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice; establishment of a public docket; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces a forthcoming
public advisory committee meeting of the Vaccines and Related
Biological Products Advisory Committee (the Committee). The general
function of the Committee is to provide advice and recommendations to
FDA on regulatory issues. The meeting will be open to the public. FDA
is establishing a docket for public comment on this document.
DATES: The meeting will be held on March 12, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. Eastern Time.
ADDRESSES: All meeting participants will be heard, viewed, captioned,
and recorded for this advisory committee meeting via an online
teleconferencing and/or video conferencing platform. Answers to
commonly asked questions about FDA advisory committee meetings may be
accessed at: https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/AboutAdvisoryCommittees/ucm408555.htm.
The online web conference meeting will be available at the
following link on the day of the meeting at: https://youtube.com/live/WKw0WEik5y4?feature=share.
FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this meeting.
The docket number is FDA-2026-N-0826. The docket will close on March
11, 2026. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be
considered. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system
will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of March
11, 2026. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/
paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are received on or
before that date.
Comments received on or before March 3, 2026, will be provided to
the Committee. Comments received after that date and on March 11, 2026,
will be taken into consideration by FDA. In the event that the meeting
is cancelled, FDA will continue to evaluate any relevant applications
or information, and consider any comments submitted to the docket, as
appropriate.
You may submit comments as follows:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted
electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information,
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
If you want to submit a comment with confidential
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public,
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').
Written/Paper Submissions
Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper
submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets
Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified,
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No.
FDA-2026-N-0826 for ``Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory
Committee; Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request
for Comments--United States (U.S.) 2026-2027 Influenza Vaccine Strain
Composition''. Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see
ADDRESSES), will be placed in the docket and, except for those
submitted as ``Confidential Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m.
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.
Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You
should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information
you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states
``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' FDA will review
this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its
consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed
confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for
public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both
copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name
and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide
this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your
comments and you must identify the information as ``confidential.'' Any
information marked as ``confidential'' will not be disclosed except in
accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For
more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see
80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the
prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane,
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cicely Reese; Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New
Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 1232, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-
796-9025, email: [email protected], or FDA Advisory Committee
Information Line, 1-800-741-8138 (301-443-0572 in the Washington, DC
area). A notice in the Federal Register about last-minute modifications
that impact a previously announced advisory committee meeting cannot
always be published quickly enough to provide timely notice. Therefore,
you should always check
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FDA's website at https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/default.htm and
scroll down to the appropriate advisory committee meeting link or call
the advisory committee information line to learn about possible
modifications before the meeting.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Agenda: The meeting presentations will be heard, viewed, captioned,
and recorded through an online teleconferencing and/or video
conferencing platform. On March 12, 2026, the Committee will meet in
open session to discuss and make recommendations on the strain
composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in United States during
the 2026-2027 influenza season.
FDA intends to make background material available to the public no
later than two (2) business days before the meeting. If FDA is unable
to post the background material on its website prior to the meeting,
the background material will be made publicly available on FDA's
website at the time of the advisory committee meeting. Background
material and the link to the online teleconference and/or video
conference meeting will be available at https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/default.htm. Scroll down to the appropriate
advisory committee meeting link.
The meeting will include slide presentations with audio and video
components to allow the presentation of materials in a manner that most
closely resembles an in-person advisory committee meeting.
Procedure: Interested persons may present data, information, or
views, orally or in writing, on issues pending before the Committee.
All electronic and written submissions to the Docket (see ADDRESSES) on
or before March 3, 2026, will be provided to the Committee. Oral
presentations from the public will be scheduled between approximately
9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Those individuals interested in
making formal oral presentations should notify the contact person and
submit a brief statement of the general nature of the evidence or
arguments they wish to present, along with the names, email addresses,
and direct contact phone numbers of proposed participants, and an
indication of the approximate time requested to make their presentation
on or before 12 p.m. Eastern Time on March 2, 2026. Time allotted for
each presentation may be limited. If the number of registrants
requesting to speak is greater than can be reasonably accommodated
during the scheduled open public hearing session, FDA may conduct a
lottery to determine the speakers for the scheduled open public hearing
session. The contact person will notify interested persons regarding
their request to speak by 6 p.m. Eastern Time on March 4, 2026.
For press inquiries, please contact the HHS Press Room at
www.hhs.gov/press-room/index.html or 202-690-6343. FDA welcomes the
attendance of the public at its advisory committee meetings and will
make every effort to accommodate persons with disabilities. If you
require accommodations due to a disability, please contact Cicely Reese
at [email protected] (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) at
least 7 days in advance of the meeting.
FDA is committed to the orderly conduct of its advisory committee
meetings. Please visit our website at https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/AboutAdvisoryCommittees/ucm111462.htm for procedures
on public conduct during advisory committee meetings.
Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). This meeting notice also serves
as notice that, pursuant to 21 CFR 10.19, the requirements in 21 CFR
14.22(b), (f), and (g) relating to the location of advisory committee
meetings are hereby waived to allow for this meeting to take place
using an online meeting platform. This waiver is in the interest of
allowing greater transparency and opportunities for public
participation, in addition to convenience for advisory committee
members, speakers, and guest speakers. The conditions for issuance of a
waiver under 21 CFR 10.19 are met.
Grace R. Graham,
Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2026-02787 Filed 2-11-26; 8:45 am]
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