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Trump Appoints Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to Lead NIH Amid Ongoing Health Policy Debates
President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a health economist known for his opposition to pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, as the next head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a premier agency in medical research.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Trump highlighted the collaborative role Bhattacharya will have alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., designated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Trump expressed confidence that together, they would enhance national medical research and accomplish breakthroughs to improve public health and save lives.
“Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease,” Trump stated.
This appointment further underscores the enduring influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health policies and political discourse in the United States.
Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter released in October 2020 that asserted the harms of lockdowns were outweighing their benefits. The declaration posited the concept of “herd immunity,” advocating for a return to normalcy for individuals at lower risk of severe COVID-19 while focusing protection efforts on high-risk populations.
“I think the lockdowns were the single biggest public health mistake,” Bhattacharya remarked during a discussion moderated by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in March 2021. The Great Barrington Declaration was met with both criticism and support, being applauded by some in Trump’s administration but widely condemned by health experts, including former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, who labeled it dangerous and outside the realm of mainstream science.
Bhattacharya’s appointment is pending Senate approval, following a trend set by other healthcare nominations from Trump that lean towards individuals without extensive government experience. Alongside Bhattacharya, Trump announced Jim O’Neill as deputy secretary of HHS. O’Neill’s past experience within the department is notable compared to other appointees, who have all been perceived as outsiders determined to reform federal health agencies.
Bhattacharya has been vocal about his views facing censorship, being a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Murthy v. Missouri, which contested the government’s alleged suppression of conservative voices to battle misinformation online. Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022, Bhattacharya was invited to discuss his experiences with restrictions on social media. He has also commented on the exodus of scientists from Twitter to the alternative platform Bluesky, referring to it as “their own little echo chamber.”
His critiques of vaccine mandates have emphasized concerns that such policies could erode public trust in the health system, indicating a desire for a more transparent approach to health policies.
Previously, Bhattacharya has held positions as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and as an economist with the RAND Corporation. The NIH, operating under HHS, controls a budget of $48 billion dedicated to medical research, supporting myriad projects including studies on vaccines, cancer, and other diseases through competitive grants distributed to researchers nationwide. The agency has played a crucial role in advancing medical innovations such as treatments for opioid addiction, vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, and the rapid development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
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