The votes in favor of Merck's shot are a sigh of relief after Kennedy gutted the panel and tapped replacements, some of whom are well-known vaccine critics.

Federal vaccine advisors on Thursday recommended Merck's new RSV antibody shot for infants younger than eight months old in their first respiratory virus season, if their mother didn't receive a vaccine during pregnancy.

At the first meeting of a controversial new group of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the committee announced new plans to study established vaccine guidelines.