Jay Bhattacharya: Trump picks Covid lockdown sceptic to steer prime well being company

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a number one Covid lockdown sceptic Jay Bhattacharya to be the subsequent director of a key US public well being company.

Trump stated he had chosen the Stanford College-trained doctor and economist to steer the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH), the world’s greatest government-funded biomedical analysis entity.

Bhattacharya grew to become the face throughout the pandemic of a fiercely disputed open letter – referred to as the Nice Barrington Declaration – that opposed widespread lockdowns.

Tuesday’s nomination rounds out Trump’s prime public well being group. He has already unveiled all 15 posts for his cupboard as he prepares to take workplace on 20 January.

Earlier this month Trump introduced he needed former rival Robert Kennedy Jr to run the US well being division. Kennedy’s vaccine scepticism has alarmed the medical neighborhood, although his requires stricter regulation of meals substances have received reward.

In a press release Trump stated Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy to “restore the NIH to a Gold Normal of Medical Analysis as they look at the underlying causes of, and options to, America’s greatest Well being challenges, together with our Disaster of Persistent Sickness and Illness”.

Bhattacharya posted on X, previously Twitter, that he was “humbled” to be picked.

“We are going to reform American scientific establishments in order that they’re worthy of belief once more and can deploy the fruits of fantastic science to make America wholesome once more!” he wrote.

On Tuesday the president-elect additionally nominated Jim O’Neill – a former federal well being official and shut ally of conservative donor Peter Thiel – as deputy secretary of the well being division.

However it’s Bhattacharya who’s extra broadly identified after he challenged the general public well being institution’s response to the Covid outbreak 4 years in the past.

In October 2020, Bhattacharya co-authored an open letter referred to as the Nice Barrington Declaration, calling for a substitute for lockdowns, recommending that the main focus ought to as an alternative be on defending weak teams reminiscent of aged folks.

He stays a vocal critic of how Anthony Fauci – a former director of the US Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illnesses, a division of NIH – dealt with the pandemic.

Then-NIH director Francis Collins stated on the time the Nice Barrington Declaration, which got here earlier than Covid vaccines have been obtainable, was harmful, dismissing the authors as “fringe specialists”.

Bhattacharya just isn’t the one Trump nominee to have criticised the response of US public well being businesses to the pandemic.

Trump has additionally picked Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon who opposed the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, to run the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dave Weldon, a doctor and former Republican congressman who has additionally forged doubt on vaccine security, was picked to run the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).

Kennedy and O’Neill’s division of well being would oversee the businesses run by Makary, Weldon and Bhattacharya, however all 5 should be confirmed by the Senate.

Final week Trump additionally nominated TV character Dr Mehmet Oz to be the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers administrator.

Whereas Trump’s picks for US public well being businesses have broadly been welcomed by his allies, not all of them have received a optimistic reception from conservatives.

He has additionally nominated Dr Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox Information medical contributor, to turn out to be the subsequent surgeon basic.

However her earlier feedback opposing abortion restrictions and in help of masking schoolchildren throughout the pandemic have riled some Trump supporters.