An FDA spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that John “Wolf” Wagner, a political appointee installed by the White House earlier this summer, is no longer heading the agency’s office of external affairs.
Instead, Heidi Rebello, a longtime FDA career official, has stepped into the position on an acting basis, overseeing all FDA public communications. Politico first reported the news.
Wagner has been reassigned to the office of the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told staff on Wednesday. This latest move comes just days after Hahn removed the agency’s top spokesperson, Emily Miller, also a political appointee after just two weeks on the job.
Miller was the person who helped to coordinate the FDA’s announcement that it had allowed the emergency use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients. She and Hahn touted the benefits of using convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19 patients – despite there being no evidence to back their claims up.
And last weekend, at a hastily called press conference, President Donald Trump, along with Commissioner Hahn announced that blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors given to new patients could save huge numbers of lives. Trump, in turn, tried to “oversell” the FDA’s evaluation, claiming the FDA said the plasma is “safe and very effective.”
“What that means is — and if the data continue to pan out — 100 people who are sick with Covid-19, 35 would have been saved because of the administration of plasma,” Hahn said.
Well, on Monday last week, Hahn spent much of the day taking heat from health experts, including two former FDA commissioners, for his remarks. Hahn, of course denied he was influenced in his decision to go ahead and authorize the use of convalescent plasma therapy, claiming his decision “was based on sound science and data,”
Besides the fact that Hahn was forced to backtrack on his inflated claims on the efficacy of convalescent plasma, the FDA seemed to have been forced into authorizing the treatment after receiving threats and complaints from Trump, raising concerns that the agency may have buckled to political pressure.
Many health experts and former FDS officials, along with quite a number of lawmakers say this episode uis just the latest evidence that the FDA is being guided by pressure from President Trump to deliver on coronavirus vaccines and treatments. They also feel that Hahn’s performance tarnished the FDA’s reputation at the moment it’s needed most, according to the Associated Press.
