ATLANTA — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine advisory committee backed another option to protect infants against a dangerous virus — before turning to questions about fall flu vaccines and a preservative in a small fraction of them that some antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will gather this week for its second regular meeting of the year, but this won’t be a typical meeting.

The health secretary handpicked the new vaccine advisers just days after firing all 17 of the committee’s previous members.