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After turning down several new drugs and restricting use of another, Dr. Vinay Prasad drew the ire of the right-wing influencer Laura Loomer and others.
July 29, 2025, 10:03 p.m. ET
The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine and gene therapy official resigned on Tuesday after a public campaign against him led by the right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Over the past week, Ms. Loomer had taken to social media to attack the official, Dr. Vinay Prasad, for a series of decisions denying approval of new drugs for rare diseases. She highlighted past statements of support he had made for prominent figures on the political left, including Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont.
Andrew Nixon, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman, confirmed the resignation Tuesday evening.
“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,” Mr. Nixon said in a statement. “We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at F.D.A.”
Dr. Prasad declined to comment.
As Ms. Loomer’s campaign escalated, the federal health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the F.D.A., had privately defended Dr. Prasad, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Kennedy’s support, they said, stemmed in part from his role overseeing vaccines. During his brief tenure at the F.D.A. Dr. Prasad had already limited the use of Covid shots and had amped up warnings about a rare cardiac side effect of the inoculations.
Dr. Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner, also defended Dr. Prasad in an interview on Saturday with Politico, calling him an “impeccable scientist.”
