FDA's Controversial Vaccine Chief Steps Down, Again

The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccines regulator is heading for the exit again. Dr. Vinay Prasad, who took over the agency's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research last year and briefly resigned in July before returning a short time later, will leave next month, an FDA spokesperson confirmed on Friday, per NBC News. Prasad's short tenure has been marked by internal clashes and public controversy. He initially stepped aside after disagreements over halting shipments of a Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy, a move that drew attacks from right-wing activist Laura Loomer.

Prasad returned less than two weeks later, with the backing of both FDA chief Marty Makary and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., per the AP. He later faced criticism for delays or denials of rare-disease drugs and for failing to deliver on promises to speed up approvals, notes NBC. Prasad also claimed in a November memo that COVID vaccines had killed at least 10 children and questioned their benefits for healthy kids, without providing supporting evidence. A dozen former FDA heads publicly rebuked the remarks, while CDC research continues to find that the shots protect children from severe illness.

Pradad also seemed to have a contentious relationship with agency staff, even telling employees they could resign if they didn't agree with him, per the New York Times. Makary is now praising Prasad's record number of December approvals and says he'll return to his academic post at UC San Francisco, with a successor to be named before he leaves. His departure adds to ongoing leadership turbulence at the FDA, CDC, and NIH.