When will there be a new FDA head? Can’t be soon enough.
There’s a lot going on (understatement!), but we are looking askance at the empty box atop the organizational chart of the Food and Drug Administration. According to NPR and Kaiser News reporter Rachana Pradhan, you’d have to go back two decades to find a longer delay in naming an FDA head. Yes, there’s an acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, so the agency isn’t totally out to sea. But Woodcook will only retain that position until mid-November, and there hasn’t been a nomination for a candidate. According to Pradhan, many public health officials are perplexed by the wait and growing concerned. As they should. Forgive us for being antsy, but the FDA oversees vaccine and other drug approvals and will have a hand in as-yet unknown Covid tests and treatments that are sure to emerge during this seemingly endless pandemic.
