The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the resignation of two senior vaccine officials this week, with reports saying the two were leaving angry at the Biden administration’s plan to release booster shots of COVID-19. before officials had a chance to approve it.
Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccine Research and Review, and deputy, Dr. Philip Krause, plan to leave the FDA in October and November. The news was first reported on Tuesday.
Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biological Research and Evaluation, in a letter announcing the waivers obtained by biotech industry publication Endpoints, praised their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. No reason was given for their departure.
Sources told the press that Gruber and Krause were upset with the Biden administration’s beefed-up plan. The department announced last month that most people will receive a booster dose of COVID-19 approximately eight months after vaccination.
A former senior FDA official told Endpoints that Gruber and Krause were leaving because they felt the CDC was making decisions which should have been left to the FDA and were upset with Marks, their division leader, because they didn’t insist on agency oversight.
The source said the last straw was the Biden administration’s announcement of the booster shot plan before the Food and Drug Administration officially signed it.
A former FDA official told the press that the resignations were related to anger over the FDA’s lack of independence in improved planning, while a current official told the outlet that the couple left due to disagreements with Marks. .
