Trump picks Covid lockdown critic to lead top health agency

by | Nov 26, 2024 | Health

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a leading Covid lockdown sceptic Jay Bhattacharya to be the next director of a key US public health agency.Trump said he had selected the Stanford University-trained physician and economist to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s biggest government-funded biomedical research entity.Bhattacharya became the face during the pandemic of a fiercely disputed open letter – known as the Great Barrington Declaration – that opposed widespread lockdowns.Tuesday’s nomination rounds out Trump’s top public health team. He has already unveiled all 15 posts for his cabinet as he prepares to take office on 20 January.Earlier this month Trump announced he wanted former rival Robert Kennedy Jr to run the US health department. Kennedy’s vaccine scepticism has alarmed the medical community, though his calls for stricter regulation of food ingredients have won praise.In a statement Trump said Bhattacharya would work 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” to be picked.”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!” he wrote.On Tuesday the president-elect also nominated Jim O’Neill – a former federal health official and close ally of conservative donor Peter Thiel – as deputy secretary of the health department. But it is Bhattacharya who …

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