OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:45 PM – Wednesday, November 27, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health researcher and COVID-19 lockdown critic, will serve as the next director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Within the announcement, Trump stated that Dr. Bhattacharya will work closely with Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives,” Trump announced.
“Jay is a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, and a Senior Fellow by courtesy at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution. He directs Stanford’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His Research focuses on the Health and Well-Being of vulnerable populations, emphasizing the role of Government programs, Biomedical Innovation, and Economics,” Trump continued.
Dr. Bhattacharya was a sharp critic of the mandated COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, as he was credited as one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration.
The letter was released in October 2020 and it argued that the lockdowns were “producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health,” and to “allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk.”
“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. Together, they will work hard to Make America Healthy Again!” Trump’s post concluded.
Bhattacharya’s new post will allow him to oversee the health agency, which is in charge of over 18,000 workers and nearly $48 billion in scientific research funds. It directs over 300,000 researchers and over 2,500 universities and medical schools.
Soon after, Kennedy logged in to social media platforms in order to congratulate Dr. Bhattacharya, expressing his excitement for the future.
“I’m so grateful to President Trump for this spectacular appointment. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is the ideal leader to restore NIH as the international template for gold-standard science and evidence-based medicine,” Kennedy wrote.
The appointment of Dr. Bhattacharya presents a massive turnaround, as he was previously blacklisted on Twitter for his views on the pandemic, according to the 2022 “Twitter Files,” to now being in control of a major health agency.
“I am honored and humbled by President @realDonaldTrump’s nomination of me to be the next @NIH director. 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!” Dr. Bhattacharya posted on X.
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