Prominent COVID-19 Response Critic Emerges As Leading Candidate To Head National Institutes Of Health

Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist, has reportedly emerged as the leading candidate to be the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Bhattacharya is known for criticizing the government’s COVID-19 response, specifically the decisions of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci.

“This signals a potential shift toward ‘focused protection’ policies over sweeping mandates. With an annual $48B budget, new NIH leadership could redefine U.S. health policy,” Mario Nawfal noted.

TRUMP LEANS TOWARDS JAY BHATTACHARYA FOR N.I.H.

Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya, known for his criticism of COVID lockdowns and co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, is reportedly Trump’s top choice for N.I.H. (National Institute of Health) director.

This… pic.twitter.com/PcNuELVMti

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 24, 2024

Per Reuters:

The Stanford-trained physician and economist met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s pick to lead HHS this week and impressed him with his ideas to overhaul NIH, the report said.

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Bhattacharya has called for shifting the agency’s focus toward funding more innovative research and reducing the influence of some of its longest-serving career officials, the report added.

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Trump picked Kennedy earlier this month to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the United States’ top health agency which oversees NIH and other health agencies.

This would be amazing.

Jay Bhattacharya would be a phenomenal Director of NIH.@RobertKennedyJr pic.twitter.com/NtQNS9PG86

— John Durant (@johndurant) November 17, 2024

DEVELOPING: @DrJBhattacharya Emerges as Top Contender for NIH Chief
—The Stanford professor of Health Policy was a leading critic of government-imposed lockdowns and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.https://t.co/dn19lZZMc7 pic.twitter.com/lLDMTwlpk5

— Jan Jekielek (@JanJekielek) November 18, 2024

“The public did not know that there were prominent scientists that disagreed with the lockdown policies. They wanted to create an illusion of consensus,” Bhattacharya said.

WATCH:

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: “The public did not know that there were prominent scientists that disagreed with the lockdown policies. They wanted to create an illusion of consensus!” pic.twitter.com/S8LjeMYu4N

— Jan 𝕏 Jensen (@_Jan_Jensen) November 19, 2024

“Francis Collins, when I wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued against lockdowns and in favor of focused protection for vulnerable older people in October 2020. You know we’re out with Martin Kulldorff and Sunetra Gupta at Harvard and Oxford, the head of the NIH, Francis Collins, wrote an email to Tony Fauci four days after we wrote the declaration calling for a devastating takedown of the premise of the declaration,” he explained.

WATCH:

During the Covid era, the government used the excuse of suppressing “misinformation” to suppress criticism of its misinformation.

Dr Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya, was demonized, suppressed, and shadow-banned [as revealed by the #twitterfiles].@gbdeclaration pic.twitter.com/wchJ07zNxj

— Asher Press (@AsherPress) November 18, 2024

From the Washington Examiner:

Bhattacharya has been a strong critic of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, directing specific attention at Dr. Anthony Fauci, a former NIH official and head of the pandemic response before retiring at the end of 2022. Fauci has faced intense questioning from Republicans over the years, including most recently in the House this past summer.

Bhattacharya also co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a document that called for scaling down lockdown policies in favor of herd immunity for those less vulnerable to COVID-19, while still protecting those who are.

According to his Stanford University page, he is a professor of both health policy and economics at Stanford, while also serving as a senior fellow for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and director of the Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.