In October 2020, as the pandemic continued to claim the lives of thousands of Americans every day, a highly controversial joint statement called the “Great Barrington Declaration” reached the public. The statement endorsed protections for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, while simultaneously arguing that public-health officials should pursue a radical version of “herd immunity” by allowing Covid to spread untrammeled through the rest of the population.
When Donald Trump effectively stopped trying to deal with the crisis, White House officials said it was because he liked the policy indifference recommended by the “Great Barrington Declaration.”
Roughly four years later, the Republican wants one of the signatories to the document to lead the NIH. The New York Times reported:
President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday evening that he had selected Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford physician and economist whose authorship of an anti-lockdown treatise during the coronavirus pandemic made him a central figure in a bitter public health debate, to be the director of the National Institutes of Health.
This is not an encouraging choice. Not only did Bhattacharya, who does not practice medicine, endorse weird ideas about the pandemic four years ago, he’s also on record making problematic criticisms of the NIH, as well as former NIH leaders such as Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci.
It’s likely, however, that Senate Republicans will confirm him anyway.
Complicating matters, of course, is the public health team he’s likely to join.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a longtime proponent of ridiculous conspiracy theories and bizarre scientific ideas.
- Former Republican Rep. Dave Weldon, Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a longtime critic of vaccines.
- Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has spent years promoting potentially dangerous products and fringe viewpoints.
- Dr. Martin Makary, Trump’s choice to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), also has a problematic record related to vaccines.
- Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Trump’s choice to serve as surgeon general, has been a prominent voice on Fox News; she has little public health experience; and she’s been critical of vaccine requirements.
The incoming Republican administration is poised to have a dramatic impact on many issues and areas of public life, but few are as likely to be as consequential as Team Trump’s effects on public health.
