Senate confirms Marty Makary to lead FDA

The Senate on Tuesday night confirmed Marty Makary to be the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Makary was easily confirmed by a 56-44 vote, picking up three Democrats.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) Maggie Hassan (N.H.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) voted with all Republicans to confirm Makary.

A Johns Hopkins surgeon, Makary will take over an agency hammered by workforce cuts imposed by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. 

He will also have to navigate politically tricky decisions on access to the abortion medication mifepristone, as well as about vaccine policy under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a prominent vaccine skeptic. 

Democrats hammered Makary during his confirmation hearing on recent moves by the Trump administration to cut FDA staff and pressed him on plans to exercise his authority over mifepristone. 

GOP senators urged him to curb access, while Democrats pressed him to keep the current policies in place.

Makary tread carefully in his responses, saying he had no preconceived notions about the drugs and would "take a solid, hard look at the data" about mifepristone's safety. 

Makary was a critic of federal COVID-19 mitigation policies and frequently appeared on Fox News during the pandemic. 

Makary during his hearing largely said he supported the benefits of vaccines, even as he was being pressed about the recent cancellation of agency advisory panels.

"Vaccines save lives, and I do believe that any child who dies of a vaccine-preventable illness is a tragedy in the modern era," he said.