President-elect Trump Appoints Covid Lockdown Critic to Lead Key Health Agency

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Jay Bhattacharya, a prominent critic of Covid lockdowns, to be the next director of a significant US public health agency. Trump announced his selection of the Stanford University-trained physician and economist to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which stands as the world’s largest government-funded biomedical research entity. Bhattacharya gained recognition during the pandemic as a key figure behind the fiercely debated Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter that opposed widespread lockdowns. Tuesday’s nomination completes Trump’s primary public health team. He has already revealed all 15 positions for his cabinet as he prepares to assume office on 20 January. Earlier this month, Trump announced his desire for former rival Robert Kennedy Jr to manage the US health department. Kennedy’s skepticism regarding vaccines has caused alarm within the medical community, although his demands for stricter regulation of food ingredients have received commendation. In a statement, Trump said Bhattacharya would collaborate with Kennedy to “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”. Bhattacharya posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “humbled” by the appointment. He wrote, “We will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again and will deploy the fruits of excellent science to make America healthy again!” On Tuesday, the president-elect also nominated Jim O’Neill — a former federal health official and close associate of conservative donor Peter Thiel — as deputy secretary of the health department. However, Bhattacharya is more widely recognized after he challenged the public health establishment’s approach to the Covid outbreak four years ago. In October 2020, Bhattacharya co-authored an open letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration, advocating for an alternative to lockdowns and recommending that the focus should instead be on protecting vulnerable groups such as elderly people. He continues to be an outspoken critic of how Anthony Fauci — a former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of NIH — managed the pandemic. Then-NIH director Francis Collins stated at the time that the Great Barrington Declaration, which was issued before Covid vaccines became available, was dangerous, dismissing its authors as “fringe experts”. Bhattacharya is not the only Trump nominee to have criticized the response of US public health agencies to the pandemic. Trump has also selected Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon who opposed the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dave Weldon, a physician and former Republican congressman who has also expressed doubts about vaccine safety, was chosen to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy and O’Neill’s department of health would oversee the agencies run by Makary, Weldon, and Bhattacharya, but all five require confirmation by the Senate. Last week, Trump additionally nominated TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator. While Trump’s selections for US public health agencies have generally been well-received by his allies, not all of them have garnered a positive reception from conservatives. He has also put forward Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor, to become the next surgeon general. Nevertheless, her past comments opposing abortion restrictions and supporting masking schoolchildren during the pandemic have provoked irritation among some of Trump’s supporters.