The MAHA-aligned Food and Drug Administration official responsible for overseeing vaccine and gene therapy approvals has been forced to resign following a public pressure campaign brought by MAGA provocateur Laura Loomer.
Dr. Vinay Prasad was chosen in May to replace the outgoing head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation, Dr. Peter Marks, who led the division for 13 years and shaped the Operation Warp Speed effort to rapidly develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist at the University of California San Francisco with a large social media following, became a prominent critic of the COVID-19 vaccine and opposed pandemic-era mask policies, CNN reported.
That apparently endeared him to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long advocated for more restrictions on vaccines, and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, eventually earning Prasad a top role at the FDA.
But over the past week and a half, Loomer has accused Prasad—who had previously criticized President Donald Trump and declared his support for political progressives including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—of “infiltrating” the FDA’s leadership and “sabotaging” the president’s deregulatory agenda.
Prasad resigned on Tuesday, despite Kennedy privately defending him, The New York Times reported.
“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the F.D.A. in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Times in a statement. “We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at F.D.A.”
During his short tenure he had already limited the use of the COVID-19 vaccine and amplified warnings about a rare cardiac side effect of the jabs, the paper reported.
He also asked the maker of a gene therapy drug called Elevidys—which is used to treat a rare, fatal disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy—to voluntarily stop shipping the drug after three people died of liver complications following its use.
After the company, Sarepta Therapeutics, refused, Prasad threatened to halt clinical trials involving the drug, according to an FDA press release.
It turns out, though, that former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has ties to Sarepta, and he called top White House officials to complain about Prasad’s efforts to limit Elevidys, the Times reported.
The company has denied that the deaths were linked to its treatment. Prasad had criticized Sarepta even before he joined the FDA, and his appointment caused the company’s stock to fall by a nearly quarter, according to CNN.
His ousting demonstrates the inherent conflict between Kennedy and the MAHA movement, which has vowed to crack down on the pharmaceutical industry, and MAGA’s crusade against government regulation.
It’s not clear whether Prasad’s ultimate undoing was due to Loomer’s loyalty tests—she resurfaced an old social media post in which Prasad said he had stabbed a voodoo doll to “curse” Trump, pro-industry lobbying, or a combination of the two.
After the Times reported on his resignation, Loomer took a victory lap on social media.
“Turns out poking Trump voodoo dolls to ‘curse’ Trump only awakened the Trump Curse,” she wrote on X.
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