The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), made up of members recently hand-selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted 5-1 on Thursday to recommend against flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal.

A group of outside advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 5-2 to recommend use of a new shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus, adding an additional tool against the most common cause of hospitalization in infants.

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.