By Aldgra Fredly
Contributing Writer
Dr. Vinay Prasad, the top vaccine official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is stepping down from the agency, his second departure from the role after briefly resigning last year.
Prasad, the FDA’s chief medical and scientific officer and director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, will leave the agency and return to his academic role at the University of California, San Francisco, in April, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a social media post.
The agency will appoint a successor before his resignation takes effect, Makary said. He thanked Prasad for his work at the FDA, saying Prasad got “a tremendous amount accomplished” while serving the agency.
“A year ago, Dr. Prasad came to the FDA to implement four major long-lasting reforms: 2-to-1 pivotal trial requirement, national priority reviews, a risk-stratified covid vaccine framework, and the new plausible mechanism framework for ultra rare diseases which we launched last week,” Makary said.
“Also, under his leadership, his center hit a record number of approvals in December,” he said. “I want to thank him for his service and personal sacrifice to take time away from his family.”
Prasad stepped down from the role in July last year and rejoined the agency two weeks later.
