"Imbecilic" Trump admin picks COVID critic to be top FDA vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad is known for Twitter fights, comparing COVID responses to rise of Nazis. Beth Mole – May 6, 2025 3:48 pm | 55 Vinay Prasad Credit: Getty | Marvin Joseph Vinay Prasad Credit: Getty | Marvin Joseph Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Oncologist Vinay Prasad, a divisive critic of COVID-19 responses, will be the next top vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, agency Commissioner Martin Makary announced on social media Tuesday. Prasad will head the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which is in charge of approving and regulating vaccines and other biologics products, such as gene therapies and blood products. "Dr. Prasad brings the kind of scientific rigor, independence, and transparency we need at CBER—a significant step forward," Makary wrote on social media. Prasad, a professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, is perhaps best known for his combative social media postings and criticism of the mainstream medical community. He gained notoriety amid the COVID-19 pandemic for assailing public health responses, such as masking and vaccine mandates. In an October 2021 newsletter, titled "How Democracy Ends," Prasad compared the country's pandemic responses to the rise of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The post led New York University bioethicist Arthur Caplan to rebuke Prasad, writing in The Cancer Letter that the comparison is "ludicrous, dangerous, and offensive," before adding "imbecilic." Prasad has also criticized the FDA for approving COVID-19 booster vaccines. Last year, he accused his predecessor as the head of the CBER, Peter Marks, of being "either incompetent or corrupt" for allowing the approvals. “Absurd” More recently, Prasad has heaped praise on new FDA Commissioner Makary, while continuing to criticize Marks. In early March, Prasad called Makary "smart, thoughtful, and disciplined" and "exactly what we need at the FDA." Later in the month, he continued to take shots at Marks, writing: "You could replace Peter Marks with a bobblehead doll that just stamps approval and you would have the same outcome at FDA with lower administrative fees. Maybe something DOGE should consider." The next week, Marks was pushed out of the FDA. In a resignation letter, Marks wrote: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the [health] secretary, [anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." In a subsequent interview with The Associated Press, Marks said he was forced out after he refused to give Kennedy's team unrestricted access to a critical vaccine safety database. Instead, Marks offered to give them the ability to read the database but not directly edit it. “Why wouldn’t we [give them full access]? Because frankly we don’t trust [them],” Marks told the AP. "They’d write over it or erase the whole database." The AP reported that Marks used profanity in the comment, but did not indicate where. Since the removal of Marks, concern has only grown that the FDA, under Makary and Kennedy, will thwart vaccines and vaccine approvals. Last week, news broke that the FDA will impose new clinical trial requirements for updating vaccines, which may make it impossible for COVID-19 boosters to be approved in the tight timeframe needed for seasonal shots. Prasad supports the move, suggesting that treating seasonally updated COVID-19 booster doses the same way it treats seasonally updated flu shots is "absurd," and calling those who disagree "anti-vaccine, anti-science, and pro-corporate." Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technica’s Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 55 Comments