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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
FDA official returns to agency after Loomer-led ouster | |
By Betsy Klein, Meg Tirrell, Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:17 PM EDT, Sat August 9, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Dr. Vinay Prasad, a controversial critic of the US Food and Drug | |
Administration who took a top role at the regulatory agency in May, has | |
returned to his job weeks after resigning amid pressure from the White | |
House and right-wing activist Laura Loomer. | |
“At the FDA’s request, Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of | |
the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research,” said Health and | |
Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon in a statement to CNN on | |
Saturday. | |
Nixon did not respond to CNN’s inquiry about whether Prasad will also | |
return to his role as FDA chief medical and scientific officer. | |
In late July, Prasad, a hematologist oncologist, said he was resigning | |
because he “did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the | |
FDA” and had “decided to return to California and spend more time | |
with his family.” | |
Prasad’s departure came amid fresh pressure from the White House for | |
him to resign, according to a person familiar with the matter who was | |
granted anonymity to describe the internal dynamics, and followed days | |
of criticism from Loomer, who has extraordinary access to President | |
Donald Trump. | |
Loomer had taken shots at Prasad on her website and on social media, | |
attacking him publicly for days as a “progressive leftist saboteur” | |
who was “undermining President Trump’s FDA.” | |
Loomer focused on Prasad’s previous social media posts and podcast | |
episodes, where she said he aligned himself politically with liberal | |
politicians and expressed “disdain” for Trump. Her posts were | |
followed by others from figures including former US Sen. Rick Santorum, | |
who called Prasad “the man destroying @POTUS legacy for helping | |
patients,” and a headlined, “Vinay Prasad Is a Bernie Sanders | |
Acolyte in MAHA Drag.” | |
Prasad had been a vocal critic of some of the agency’s drug | |
approvals, as well as the government’s response and vaccine policies | |
during the Covid-19 pandemic. | |
Loomer, reacting to the news of Prasad’s return in a , called it an | |
“egregious personnel decision” and said she planned to “(ramp) up | |
my exposes of officials within HHS and FDA” in the coming weeks. | |
Prasad also drew criticism from former officials and vaccine experts | |
after internal memos from May revealed that he on recommendations for | |
two new versions of Covid-19 vaccines. The then-CBER director rebuked | |
recommendations for broad use of the shots; the FDA eventually approved | |
the vaccines for use in older and immunocompromised people but did not | |
advise them for younger Americans who don’t have underlying | |
conditions. | |
CNN’s Meg Tirrell, Sarah Owermohle, and Adam Cancryn contributed to | |
this report. | |
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