Dr Vinay Prasad, the Indian-origin vaccine chief of the FDA who was forced to resign in July after far-right activist Laura Loomer led a campaign against him, has been reinstated to his job in an unusual instance. Laura Loomer pointed out the critical comments that Dr Prasad made about President Donald Trump before joining the administration, while some of his decisions to deny drug approvals also came under fire. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed to the New York Times that Dr Prasad is returning to the agency. “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.The NYT report observed that Dr Prasad’s rehiring suggests that the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr., and the FDA commissioner, Dr Marty Makary, remain influential enough in the Trump administration to employ someone who had previously expressed disdain for Trump and his followers.Loomer reacted to the reinstatement and called in another “egregious personnel decision”. “In another egregious personnel decision under the Trump administration, it is now being reported that longtime progressive Marxist Vinay Prasad who referred to President Trump’s supporters as criminals and compared them to drug addicts after saying he stabbed a Trump voodoo doll to “curse Trump” is apparently back at FDA,” Loomer wrote.RFK Jr tapped Dr Prasad in May when the previous head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation left the role. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Prasad gained prominence as an outspoken critic of vaccines and mask mandate. In his short stint at the FDA since May, Dr Prasad limited the use of Covid-19 vaccines and promoted warnings about a rare side effect of the vaccines. When he resigned from his role weeks ago, a department spokesperson told the NYT: “Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family.”Kennedy, however, opposed Prasad’s departure from the role and remained invested in bringing him back. Dr Prasad was born and brought up in Ohio and Chicago to Indian immigrant parents.
