Category: Politics and Regulation

Robin toppled. (Vinay Prasad.)

EBM “Boy Wonder” Vinay Prasad is toppled

Evidence-based medicine "Boy Wonder" Dr. Vinay Prasad was fired as CBER Director after less than three months on the job. What can the kerfuffle surrounding his ouster tell us about the FDA and doctors who enabled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?

/ August 4, 2025
A person holding a large, shiny, metallic-looking rock with both hands. The rock appears rough and glittery, resembling a lump of pyrite or "fool's gold.

A department adrift from its own “Gold” standards

Phantom citations, misinformation, and imbalance in HHS communications

/ July 29, 2025
Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH

COVID-19 contrarian Dr. Vinay Prasad meets real world responsibility

Dr. Vinay Prasad parlayed his COVID-19 contrarianism into a high-ranking position in the FDA. Now he's facing real world responsibility, and knives are out for him. Can he survive?

/ July 28, 2025
Screenshot showing two news articles: One from The New York Times titled "Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A." with an orange illustration, and another from STAT titled "Inside the staff exodus and tanking morale that threaten Makary's FDA" with a man speaking at a podium.

Go Ahead, Make the Case That Science, Free Speech, and the FDA Are Thriving Under Drs. Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad

Unlike Drs. Adam Cifu and John Mandrola, I do not constantly boast of my "nuance" or claim to be a master of "clinical appraisal." They have so much to teach me.

/ July 10, 2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tucker Carlson

After ACIP: Where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely go from here in his quest to eliminate vaccines

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on The Tucker Carlson Show last week. It got me to thinking: What's next in RFK Jr.'s crusade against vaccines after he turned ACIP into an antivax committee?

/ July 7, 2025
Two clear bottles with red caps, filled with raw cow milk, sit side by side on a countertop against a white tile backsplash. Each bottle is labeled “RAW COW MILK FOR CATS & DOGS.”.

Dr. Vinay Prasad: Bodily Autonomy Applies to Raw Milk, Not Vaccines

This is what it looks like when disinformation doctors pretend to value data and science to further their true objective, MAHA politics.

/ July 4, 2025
A person wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt checks a white smartwatch on their wrist, displaying a colorful screen with time and fitness activity data.

Wearables and Wellness Populism: How Smart Watches Got MAHA’d

Fifteen years ago, then-contributor Peter Lipson wrote a short post on this blog that I’ve reflected on many times since. Titled Your Disease, Your Fault, Peter described a central theme that runs through nearly every variant of alternative medicine: That illness is preventable, and therefore, your fault. According to this worldview, disease isn’t a product of biology, inequity, or chance. It is...

/ July 3, 2025
A laboratory fume hood heavily damaged by fire, with charred equipment, melted glassware, and black soot covering the surfaces; burn marks and debris are visible throughout the scene.

Big Trouble in Little Pharma

The Excruciating Inspection of David Geier’s DAP Pharmaceuticals

/ July 1, 2025
Clown Car

RFK Jr.’s reconstituted vaccine committee meets for the first time, and I can’t help but think of clowns…antivax clowns

Last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s reconstituted Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time. The proceedings reminded me, more than anything else, of an antivax clown car.

/ June 30, 2025
Several gold bars are stacked, but one bar is cut open to reveal a gray, rough interior, indicating that it is not solid gold.