Trump Picks Another Strong Anti-vax Man to Direct NIH
The vax was deadly, the lockdowns were awful and the pandemic was fake
Someone has to clean up these streets.
Trump made a whole lot of promises, some bad, some awesome. Way too soon to know how those will turn out, but along with appointing Robert Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, picking Bhattacharya for National Institutes of Health.
This is awesome news. He was one of the most vocal and high-profile critics of the entire Covid fiasco: the lockdowns, the vaccine mandates, all of it.
But remember, this is a position that requires Senate approval. And we’ve already seen that these Senate scumbags are using their ill-gotten power to pressure Trump’s candidates before the hearings even begin.
AP:
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading medical research agency.
Trump, in a statement Tuesday evening, said Bhattacharya, a 56-year-old physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, “to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.”
“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,” he wrote.
The decision to choose Bhattacharya for the post is yet another reminder of the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic on the politics on public health.
Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns were causing irreparable harm.
Oh man. Remember the Great Barrington Declaration?
That is bringing back some memories.
It feels both way too recent to be four years ago, AND way too long ago to be four years ago.
It’s the most common observation but: the pandemic completely reset—and in some ways destroyed—fundamental pillars of society and reality, including the perception of time and seasons.
The document — which came before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and during the first Trump administration — promoted “herd immunity,” the idea that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. Protection should focus instead on people at higher risk, the document said.
“I think the lockdowns were the single biggest public health mistake,” Bhattacharya said in March 2021 during a panel discussion convened by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Absolutely correct statement. This man is king.
He has the academic chops and the correct views of the plandemic.
But just as gladdening, he has nimble twitter skills and compelling messaging.
Of course, Trump has said before (and since) the election that he is going to go all-in on supporting Israel’s wars unconditionally. And his ability or willingness to help bring an end to the Ukraine mess is also looking dodgy.
So the amount of energy and attention he’ll be able to expend on awesome domestic initiatives like fixing food, fixing pharma, fixing virus laws—well it’s looking to be extremely limited.
The main issues will be the politicized Senate hearings (sure to be highly contentious and anti-Trump-people) and the war agendas funneling money and attention away from the things that actually matter here in America.