WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary is resigning from the Trump administration on Tuesday, with FDA food chief Kyle Diamantas set to temporarily fill in as acting commissioner.

“Marty is a terrific guy, but he’s going to go on and he’s going to lead a good life. He was having some difficulty,” President Donald Trump told reporters, confirming the news first reported by multiple media outlets. “The assistant, the ​deputy is taking over temporarily until we find someone.”

An unnamed senior administration official told Politico that the decision was “months in the making” and that while Trump ultimately okayed the change, “it was really Secretary [of Health & Human Services Robert F.] Kennedy himself who made this decision.”

A former Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor, Makary rose to national prominence as a vocal critic of the medical establishment’s focus on lockdowns and vaccines as the answers to COVID-19. His appointment to a top role in the second Trump administration was taken even by Trump-skeptical conservatives as a hopeful sign for health policy.

However, Makary’s tenure “was marked by mass layoffs, persistent churn among senior leaders and policy fights with lawmakers, drugmakers and President Donald Trump,” Politico writes in an assessment echoed by other outlets.

But the most significant recent point of contention has revolved around abortion pills. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump declared he would not reverse former President Joe Biden’s refusal to enforce federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines and removal of their in-person dispensing requirement.

In May 2025, the Trump administration promised to review the data on abortion pill dangers, giving hope of reversal of its stance, but a year without updates has prompted frustration among pro-lifers, with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) going so far as to question if the study is underway at all. Administration officials insist that review is still coming, though frustrated pro-lifers have said that a new official finding on the pills’ safety should not be necessary to restore enforcement of the federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines.

Last December, many pro-life leaders called for Makary’s firing over a Bloomberg report alleging that, “behind the scenes, he told agency officials to delay the safety review” until “after the midterm elections,” according to unnamed “people familiar with the discussions.” Makary denied the slowness and silence was due to anything but diligence in reviewing all the data, yet many commentators and activists settled on Makary, rather than Trump, as the root of the problem.

Time will tell what changes with Makary’s ouster. A spokesperson for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said that a recent White House meeting with pro-life leaders was “very constructive,” but no updates on abortion pills have been announced so far.

Makary’s tenure has also been marked by mixed signals on vaccine policy, especially the controversial COVID-19 shots developed under the first Trump administration. While the administration has done away with many COVID shot recommendations and reduced other childhood immunization guidelines, in February the FDA rejected Moderna’s application for a trial of its new mRNA-based flu vaccine, but reversed course following a White House meeting at which Trump reportedly expressed frustration to Makary.

Last week, Trump reportedly blamed Makary again for his slowness in approving new flavored vaping and nicotine products.

The Associated Press adds that “virtually all” of the FDA’s senior career officials “resigned, retired or were forced out in the first year of the second-term Trump administration, leading to a steady stream of leaks and negative stories in the media cataloging low morale, dysfunction and frustration among staff,” with a particular sore spot being Makary’s chosen second-in-command, Dr. Vinay Prasad coming into conflict with “specialty drugmakers and groups for patients with rare diseases.”