Dr. Vinay Prasad, who led the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines and gene therapy division before resigning under pressure two weeks ago, is returning to the agency, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed Saturday.
Dr. Prasad left the F.D.A. in late July after being targeted by the right-wing activist Laura Loomer and others who criticized his decisions regarding certain medications and pointed out critical comments he had made about President Trump before joining the administration.
A series of editorials published in the weeks leading up to Dr. Prasad’s resignation also appeared to have contributed to the pressure on him. Those editorials found fault with his decisions to deny drug approvals and to demand a pause on a medication linked to several patient deaths.
Dr. Prasad’s return was an unusual instance of a federal official being allowed to rejoin the administration after being targeted by Ms. Loomer for being insufficiently loyal to the president. She has repeatedly demonstrated her influence over federal personnel decisions.
His rehiring also suggests that the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, remain influential enough in the Trump administration to employ someone who had previously expressed disdain for Mr. Trump and his followers.
“At the F.D.A.’s request, Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research,” Andrew Nixon, a health department spokesman, said in a statement.
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