“… Moderna launched a global randomized controlled trial in September 2024 with 41,000 participants, half of whom received its vaccine. The other half received a standard flu vaccine as a control. The FDA blessed its trial design, and agency staffers gave Moderna a thumbs up to apply for approval last August based on the results. Its vaccine was 27% more effective at preventing symptomatic cases of flu and 49% more effective against hospitalization than the standard flu vaccine.
Yet Dr. Prasad said Moderna should have used a high-dose flu vaccine as its control rather than a standard dose—though that wasn’t possible. In the U.S., high-dose flu vaccines are typically given only to seniors over age 65. They aren’t available in many European countries where Moderna conducted its trial. That’s in part because government-run health systems don’t want to pay for expensive high-dose vaccines. Irony alert: Dr. Prasad is a fan of single-payer healthcare.
Even so, Moderna’s vaccine proved equally effective as high-dose shots in a side-by-side comparison with a standard dose. One advantage of Moderna’s mRNA vaccines, however, is that they can be quickly adapted and manufactured to match new strains….”
Vinay Prasad is drawing heat for his personal conduct as director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, as scrutiny grows around his decision not to review Moderna’s application for influenza vaccine candidate mRNA-1010.
Prasad is the subject of a number of internal complaints at the FDA, including “sexual harassment, retaliation against subordinates and verbally berating staff,” according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Vinay Prasad, the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research head, is accused of interpersonal impropriety as pushback builds against his decision to reject Moderna’s influenza vaccine candidate.
www.biospace.com
Sexual harassment? Retaliation? Berating staff? From a Trump administration official? No way!
This is a rare occasion where I 100% agree with the message from this administration. but a) this is cringe as fuck and b) they won’t take any concrete steps to make whole foods more accessible or more affordable for the general population.
I’ve read several times that RFK was asked to tone it down heading into the 2026 election and focus on a message that promotes the MAHA/MAGA alliance and resonates with young men.
So here we have a perfectly reasonable public health message wrapped in political campaign strategy meant to obfuscate the first year of MAHA controversy.