Top FDA vaccine regulators resign, with administration's backing of COVID booster reportedly factor

Two top FDA vaccine regulators will leave the agency this fall, in part reportedly over Biden administration’s position that adults should get a coronavirus booster vaccination.

The reasoning for Dr. Marion Gruber and Dr. Philip Kraus' departure was reported by The New York Times, according to people familiar with their thinking. 

Neither believed there is enough data yet to justify offering booster shots and considered the announcement pressure on the FDA to quickly authorize them, the sources told the news outlet.

Gruber, the director of the agency's vaccines office, will retire at the end of October. Her deputy, Krause, will leave in November, according to an email that Dr. Peter Marks, the agency’s top vaccine regulator, sent to staff members Tuesday morning.

The administration is suggesting adult get the booster eight months after received their second vaccine shot, amid the surge of the virus' highly-contagious delta variant.