The Food and Drug Administration’s chief medical and scientific officer, Dr. Vinay Prasad, rejected two COVID-19 vaccines in May due to unknown risks despite experts’ confidence that they were safe, documents revealed.

While both the Novavax vaccine and the newest generation of the mRNA Moderna vaccines had been signed off on by about 30 FDA vaccine officials, Prasad ended up writing overrides for each, restricting their use. Prasad argued that the threat of COVID-19 had decreased, changing the cost-benefit weight of receiving such a vaccine.

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