During his hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions this morning, FDA commissioner nominee Marty Makary found himself being asked to answer for some of the changes made to the health agencies since President Donald Trump took office.
Both Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Patty Murray pressed Makary on the recent cancellation of an FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting that would have chosen the strains to be used in the next flu vaccine — a move colored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s history on vaccinations.
“I think one of the laudable things about Secretary Kennedy’s positions is he wants more transparency in terms of how the federal government makes medical decisions as part of restoring that faith,” said Cassidy. “Frankly, this seems to kind of go backwards on that.”
Makary said he wasn’t involved in the decision to cancel the meeting, but he believes it would have served as no more than a “rubber stamp” on the strains that were previously selected by international health organizations.
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If confirmed, Makary would lead the agency responsible for regulating a vast array of consumer products — including medical devices, tobacco, cosmetics, drugs, vaccines, food and food additives and any devices that emit electromagnetic radiation, including cell phones.
Makary was also questioned on his opinions about the FDA’s role in regulating contraception and medication used in abortions.
The nominee told the senators that he had “no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy except to take a solid hard look at the data and to meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA, and to build an expert coalition to review the ongoing data.”
“You have my commitment to follow the independent scientific review process at the FDA,” Makary told Murray.
Makary is a gastrointestinal surgeon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. But his scientific bona fides have been somewhat overshadowed by comments he made during the COVID-19 pandemic. While he was an early proponent of universal masking and vaccination strategies that prioritized getting as many people vaccinated as possible, he said he was opposed to vaccine mandates and argued against masks for children.
During his hearing, Makary told senators that vaccines save lives, but that he believes many children who die of measles had other underlying conditions that contributed to their deaths.
But unlike Kennedy, Makary has never pushed the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. Many of his criticisms of the FDA during the pandemic were centered around the agency’s slow pace of approving new COVID-19 treatments.
When asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan if he would work with her to speed the pace of drug approvals, Makary’s answer was “an emphatic yes.”
But recent changes to the agency made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency may not make the sluggishness of drug pipelines any easier to fix. Around 1,000 probationary FDA employees were fired by DOGE in February as part of widespread cuts to federal agencies. Some of those employees’ roles were funded by user fees, which the FDA collects from companies whose products it reviews. The FDA has reportedly hired back some of the fired staff from its food safety and biomedical device divisions.
Makary demurred when asked by Sen. Susan Collins whether he would have full control over any personnel decisions at the FDA if confirmed, saying only that he would “do an assessment” of staff and personnel needs.
Makary didn’t disapprove of all the potential changes to the FDA that have been recently floated. Sen. Rand Paul asked Makary if he feels a need to review the members of the committees that advise the FDA and the other health agencies. Kennedy has reportedly moved to change up the membership on some committees, citing a perceived conflict of interest with pharmaceutical companies.
Makary responded that he does see a need to review committee members. “We need to review the ethics policy, because people see things that appear to be a cozy relationship between industry and the regulators that are supposed to be regulating the products,” he said.
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Margaret Manto is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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