On May 15, Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg was fired as director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research after refusing an ultimatum from the White House to resign.
Consistent with the second Trump administration’s lack of transparency, no formal reason has been given for her termination. However, she was likely fired because, like former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, she took a cautious approach to drug approval. Director of Medicare, Deputy Administrator of the Center for Medicare, and Senior Advisor to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. Chris Klomp has also sought to replace political appointees like Hoeg with more conventional career officials.
Hoeg was an anti-vaccine activist, who blamed the deaths of children and young adults on the COVID-19 vaccine in a report. She wanted to add a risk label to the COVID-19 vaccines for boys and men aged twelve to 24, a measure strongly opposed by actual experts. She was instrumental in the decision to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. The loss of Hoeg translates to a defeat for RFK Jr.
Other officials, many of whom were associated with Makary, are expected to be removed. This includes “chief of staff Jim Traficant; deputy chief of staff Samuel Doran; and associate director of policy and research strategy Sanjula Jain-Nagpal…”
