She Was Fired. She Doesn't Know By Whom.

Tracy Beth Høeg posted two words on X Friday night: "I was fired."

She told the New York Times she had refused to resign and was terminated — and that she has no idea who gave the order or whether HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even knew it was happening. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment, according to GV Wire.

The person running the nation's drug approval center just got fired, and no one in the chain of command will say who did it or why.

The Scale of the Vacuum Right Now

This isn't one departure. This is a leadership collapse at the FDA.

Within the span of a week: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned Wednesday, May 13 — reportedly after refusing White House pressure to approve flavored e-cigarettes, per GV Wire. Høeg was fired Friday, May 15 — six months into her role as acting CDER director. Katherine Szarama, who had been acting head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research for literally days, also departed Friday. And Jim Traficant, the FDA's chief of staff, was ousted as well.

Four senior leaders. One week. No replacements named for most of them.

According to the Guardian, FDA staff only learned Makary was actually gone via an official email sent Friday afternoon — days after Trump's social media posts and the removal of Makary's photo from the FDA lobby already tipped them off. That's how the agency found out.

Who's Running Things Now

Kyle Diamantas — previously the top food regulator — is now acting FDA commissioner. Michael Davis, CDER's deputy director, steps up as acting director of the drug center, according to STAT News as reported by the Guardian.

None of these are permanent appointments.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Missing

Most outlets are framing this as a clean MAGA purge — Trump cleaning house of vaccine skeptics who weren't skeptical enough.

Høeg's record is genuinely complicated, and the media is cherry-picking which parts to emphasize based on their preferred narrative.

Left-leaning outlets like the Guardian are leading with her vaccine skepticism and her role co-authoring Kennedy's plan to cut recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11 — a policy a federal judge later blocked. Right-wing outlets emphasize her regulatory rigor.

But GV Wire's New York Times-sourced reporting includes something most outlets buried: Høeg said she "stuck with the science" and is "glad that we didn't give in to any pressures to approve drugs when it wasn't appropriate." This suggests resistance to political pressure from the same administration that fired her.

She also worked on reducing animal testing, analyzed SSRI safety during pregnancy, and oversaw drug safety analysis. She wasn't just a vaccine policy advocate.

The Vaccine Schedule Fight — and Everything Else

Høeg played a key role in the push to reduce the childhood vaccine schedule. According to Yahoo News, that effort resulted in a vote to cut recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11. A federal judge blocked it.

But Høeg was the fifth person to lead CDER in 15 months under Trump. FIVE. That suggests institutional instability rather than a coherent strategy.

The unreleased dossier reportedly linking youth deaths to COVID vaccines, which Høeg helped produce, remains unpublished. Nobody in the media is pressing hard on why that report hasn't been released or what's actually in it.

Who Actually Made This Call?

Høeg says she doesn't know. HHS isn't talking. Nobody's claimed credit.

A major federal agency had its drug regulation chief fired on a Friday night, with no explanation, no named decision-maker, and no successor announced. The people who could explain it are silent.

Makary's exit at least had a stated reason — he pushed back publicly on flavored vape approvals. Høeg's firing came with nothing.

What This Means for You

The FDA approves or rejects every drug you take, every vaccine your kid gets, every treatment your doctor prescribes. Right now, that agency has NO permanent leadership at the top. Zero.

Drug applications are sitting in queues. Rare disease patients are waiting on approvals. Biologics reviews are ongoing. The people nominally in charge were handed those jobs this week.

You can debate Høeg's qualifications or her vaccine positions. But an agency this size, this important, running on acting-everything leadership with Friday-night firings and no explanations — deserves scrutiny regardless of party affiliation.

Someone in Washington needs to answer: who ordered this, and what's the plan?