The FDA plunged deeper into turmoil Friday as its acting drug chief said the agency fired her, capping a day that also swept out the acting vaccines chief and the chief of staff.

Dr Tracy Beth Høeg, who served as the Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, said she lost her job after she declined to resign, according to reports. Her departure came alongside the exit of Katherine Szarama, the acting vaccines chief, who had held that role only for days, and Jim Traficant, the agency’s chief of staff. Together, the moves widened a leadership vacuum at one of the federal government’s most consequential health agencies.

The exits leave the FDA without permanent leaders in several of its most important posts at a moment when the agency’s decisions shape drug approvals, vaccine oversight, and public trust.

Key Facts

  • Dr Tracy Beth Høeg says the FDA fired her after she declined to resign.
  • Acting vaccines chief Katherine Szarama also left Friday after only days in the role.
  • Chief of staff Jim Traficant was ousted in the same shake-up.
  • The FDA now lacks permanent leadership in several top positions, including commissioner and deputy commissioner.

The shake-up follows the resignation of Marty Makary on Tuesday and adds to a string of high-level departures that have stripped the agency of permanent leadership. The FDA now has no permanent commissioner or deputy commissioner, and two major centers also lack permanent chiefs. That instability matters because the agency sits at the center of decisions that affect medicine approvals, safety reviews, and vaccine policy across the country.

What drove the latest moves remains unclear, and reports indicate key details around the departures have not been fully explained. But the pattern itself tells a stark story: the agency’s leadership structure has weakened quickly, and the uncertainty now reaches the offices that oversee some of the FDA’s highest-stakes work. For drugmakers, doctors, patients, and investors, that kind of churn can cloud decision-making and slow confidence in the process even when the agency’s core staff remain in place.

The next test will come fast. The administration will need to show who will run the FDA day to day, whether temporary replacements can steady the agency, and how long these vacancies will last. Those answers matter well beyond Washington, because every gap at the top of the FDA raises fresh questions about how the country will manage the approval and oversight of drugs and vaccines in the months ahead.