The Food and Drug Administration has rehired the vaccine chief who resigned just two weeks ago.
Dr. Vinay Prasad led the FDA’s vaccines and gene therapy division until he was forced to resign in late July after a public pressure campaign led by far-right activist Laura Loomer. The vocal Trump supporter and ally accused Prasad of “infiltrating” the FDA’s leadership and ”sabotaging” Trump’s agenda.
Dr. Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist at UC San Francisco, gained prominence during the pandemic as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccines and mask mandates.
This caught the eye of Trump-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has himself long been a proponent of vaccine skepticism.
When the previous head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation left the role in May, Kennedy tapped Prasad for the role. During his short tenure, he limited the use of COVID-19 vaccines and promoted warnings about a rare side effect of the vaccines.
At the time of his resignation, a spokesperson for HHS told The New York Times, “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.”
Both Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary opposed Prasad’s departure from the role, but President Donald Trump ignored their appeals and ordered his removal.
Both remained invested in returning Prasad to his role, with Makary mentioning his desire to bring Prasad back to the FDA during an appearance at an event with RFK Jr. earlier this week.
In a new statement, a health department spokesperson said of Prasad’s rehiring, “At the F.D.A.’s request, Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.”
Loomer was predictably incensed, taking to X to decry the decision to rehire a “longtime progressive Marxist… who referred to President Trump’s supporters as criminals.”
The post FDA Rehires Vaccine Chief Ousted After Laura Loomer’s Public Pressure Campaign appeared first on The Daily Beast.
