Covid lockdown critic to lead US public health agency

Noted Covid critic Jay Bhattacharya who was at the forefront for openly criticizing Trump administration during the latter’s first term, is now touted to lead the all-important public health agency. During the pandemic in the year 2020, it was Bhattacharya who wrote an open letter, which is disputed till today due to its strong wording. Now popularly known as the Great Barrington Declaration, the letter opposed incessant lockdowns then.

In the Declaration, Jay Bhattacharya, along with its two more authors, had strongly been of the opinion that the population should be infected to gain an advantage of the ‘herd immunity.’ This was advocated during the Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2020. More than 940,000 signatures from infectious disease and public health specialists all over the world had been added then for the Declaration.

But otherwise, Trump has selected Jay Bhattacharya obviously due to his credentials, which can prove an asset for the upcoming administration. An India-born Jay Bhattacharya is a trained physician from Stanford University and an economist who will head the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the world’s biggest government-funded biomedical research organization.

The Declaration said that “our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity. As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all—including the vulnerable—falls.” The contents were brought under notice before the vaccination procedure started in October 2020. 

To add a bit more, Jay Bhattacharya, as the NIH Director, will be preoccupied with an initial research work on the development of vaccines for any possible pandemic threat in the future. As such, he will be supervising 27 institutions and centers that will identify targets for developing new drug therapies.

 A widely re-shuffled Department

“Restore(ing) 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,” is what Trump said in a statement. He was, however, positive about the coordination between Kennedy and Jay Bhattacharya.

Exactly this is the reason behind filling up the health posts, bypassing presidential protocols in this regard. Around 15 posts are already filled up in his cabinet, with the inclusion of a top public health team being yet another milestone in his soon-to-be-formed administration on 20^th January.

In early November, Robert Kennedy Jr. was chosen to lead the health department, which was a rival during Trump’s first term. Inasmuch as the former was all for tougher food regulations winning him accolades from the medical fraternity, his skepticism had made the latter worried about it the most.

The Great Barrington Declaration letter in the year 2020 was all about protecting a highly vulnerable section of the population, the elderly, while suggesting finding newer ways to tackle the pandemic other than lockdowns.

The former Stanford alumnae wrote on Twitter, “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!” Also, that he was “humbled” to be chosen for the post.

As deputy secretary of the health department, Trump has picked up Jim O’Neill, a former federal health official and close ally of conservative donor Peter Thiel.

Trump chooses critics like Jay Bhattacharya

Terming the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration as mere fringe experts who raised their voices when the Covid anti-dote was yet unavailable, the then NIH director Francis Collins said that the said action was untimely.

Jay Bhattacharya still criticizes Anthony Fauci, a former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of NIH, for his pandemic mishandling.

There are others, however, who have been vocal critics of US public health agencies apart from Jay Bhattacharya regarding the pandemic handling by them.

Among the long list of Trump critics to be picked up for his health team are Dr. Mehmet Oz, a notable TV personality; Dave Weldon, a physician and former Republican congressman; Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon; and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor.

While Nesheiwat has been supportive of masks for the schoolchildren, she has been appointed as a probable candidate for the post of next surgeon general. Makary opposed the Covid-19 vaccine mandate and has been asked to run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Weldon, who was expressing his opposite views on vaccine safety more than often and has been doubtful about its efficacy. He has been, however, offered to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though by the President-elect. Dr. Mehmet, meanwhile, has been appointed as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator.

Most of the government-to-be allies have expressed their open support for Trump regarding his choices for top posts in various departments, but there are many who are still critical of the President-elect’s policies regarding his picks, notable among them, the conservatives. Also, it has irked many of the Trump supporters when Nesheiwat made irritating comments as above.