The head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington); Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky); and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), are looking into the resignations of two reputable FDA scientists. The scientists resigned in 2021 after hasty approval of Covid vaccine boosters.
The retirements of Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), and Dr. Philip Krause, deputy director of the office, were announced in late summer of 2021 by the agency. No mention was made about why Gruber and Krause were leaving the agency.
However, multiple news reports circulated that doctors Gruber and Krause were frustrated with the Biden administration’s plans to move forward with recommending COVID-19 booster shots without the scientists’ prior approval. In other reports, sources told Politico that the two officials were at odds with the FDA’s top vaccine official, Peter Marks, and were discontented over the roles of the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in decisions that they believed should be handled by the FDA.
On behalf of the Health and Oversight Subcommittee Republicans, the members of Congress sent a letter to FDA commissioner Robert Califf, addressing their concerns.
Hellbound and Down 