Indian-origin Vinay Prasad becomes US' top vaccine official. Who is he? Why is he controversial?
Dr Vinay Prasad will be FDA's top vaccine regulator.
— DrMakaryFDA (@DrMakaryFDA)
Prasad's criticism of US health policies
Who is Vinay Prasad? His early life
Controversial oncoologist-haematologist Vinay Prasad will be the FDA's top vaccine regulator. Apart from his extensive research and contribution in the field of oncology, he is known for his scathing remarks against the FDA and US health policies.FDA Commissioner Martin Makary announced Prasad's appointment as the new director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees review of vaccines, blood products and some genetic medicines.'Dr Prasad brings the kind of scientific rigor, independence, and transparency we need at CBER—a significant step forward,' Makary wrote in a post on the social media site X.In recent years, Prasad has become a regular on podcasts associated with Health Secretary Kennedy's 'Make America Healthy Again' movement.During the pandemic, Dr Prasad found fault with social distancing and expressed doubt over vaccine for children. He also criticized Donald Trump during the pandemic for taking disproven medicines to prevent the spread of the virus and for refusing to use facemasks at the White House.He freely expresses his opinion in X, his Substack called Sensible Medicine and the podcast The Plenary Session. He is the author of the books "Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer" and "Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives."Born in the US to immigrant parents, Dr Prasad's early life was in Ohio and Chicago. He went to Michigan State University, where he took courses in health care ethics and physiology. He completed his medical degree at the University of Chicago in 2009 and completed a residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University in 2012. From 2015 to 2020, Prasad was assistant and then associate professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. He currently works at San Francisco General Hospital. Prasad is currently a full professor of hematology-oncology at UCSF.
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