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Jay Bhattacharya was picked by Donald Trump to lead the NIH despite not being a practicing doctor. Bhattacharya’s lack of qualifications on medical matters has been an issue previously in his career, including when he was dismissed as an expert witness in a 2021 mask mandate trial for being unqualified. Bhattacharya is known for espousing “fringe” COVID beliefs. In March 2020, Bhattacharya argued that only 20,000 to 40,000 Americans would die from COVID. After five years, COVID has killed 1.2 million U.S. citizens. Bhattacharya also pushed for the end of lockdowns to achieve herd immunity which was heavily criticized by the then-NIH Director. Bhattacharya is also reportedly considering plans to cut NIH research institutes and politicize the agency’s mission by tying grants to universities on academic freedom measures. Jay Bhattacharya is a fringe scientist whose plans to run the NIH will weaken the health of Americans. |
Jay Bhattacharya Is Not A Practicing Doctor. According to the New York Times, “If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Bhattacharya would lead the world’s premier medical research agency, with a $48 billion budget and 27 separate institutes and centers, each with its own research agenda, focusing on different diseases like cancer and diabetes. Dr. Bhattacharya, who is not a practicing physician, has called for overhauling the N.I.H. and limiting the power of civil servants who, he believes, played too prominent a role in shaping federal policy during the pandemic.” [New York Times, 11/26/24]
2021: Jay Bhattacharay Was Dismissed As Expert Witness From Mask Mandate Case Because Of His Lack Of Qualifications And Clear “Personal Agenda.” According to the New York Times, “He also argued against mask mandates for schoolchildren in Florida and Tennessee. Judges in both states dismissed him as unqualified to make medical pronouncements on the matter. ‘His demeanor and tone while testifying suggest that he is advancing a personal agenda,’ Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee wrote in 2021, adding that he was ‘simply unwilling to trust Dr. Bhattacharya.’” [New York Times, 11/26/24]
March 2020: Jay Bhattacharya Stated COVID Would Kill 20,000 To 40,000 People In The US. According to USA Today, "In a March 2020 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Bhattacharya argued COVID-19 could be a '20,000 or 40,000 death epidemic' in the U.S.” [USA Today, 11/27/24]
2020: Jay Bhattacharya Co-Authored “Great Barrington Declaration” Which Argued US Should End Lockdowns To Achieve Herd Immunity. According to USA Today, "Bhattacharya is co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, a 2020 manifesto in which he and other health professionals made the case against lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. They argued the virus should be allowed to spread naturally through younger Americans, who were at less risk to be severely harmed by COVID-19, to achieve 'herd immunity' while older Americans took more protective measures." [USA Today, 11/27/24]
December 2024: Jay Bhattacharya Was “Considering” Plan To Tie Research Grants To Academic Freedom On Campuses. According to the Wall Street Journal, "President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health wants to take on campus culture at elite universities, wielding the power of tens of billions of dollars in scientific grants. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford physician and economist, is considering a plan to link a university’s likelihood of receiving research grants to some ranking or measure of academic freedom on campus, people familiar with his thinking said. Bhattacharya, a critic of the Covid-19 response, wants to counter what he sees as a culture of conformity in science that ostracized him over his views on masking and school closures. He isn’t yet sure how to measure academic freedom, but he has looked at how a nonprofit called Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression scores universities in its freedom-of-speech rankings, a person familiar with his thinking said." [Wall Street Journal, 12/6/24]
Jay Bhattacharya “Would Assess” Plan To Cut NIH Research Institutes.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "He would like to institute term limits for the scientists running the NIH’s various research institutes and centers and would assess a congressional Republican proposal to reduce the number of institutes and centers to 15 from 27, according to people familiar with his thinking. The proposals are likely to stir opposition from people inside and outside the NIH, including officials at institutions that can get grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year to fund research. 'It’s not clear why we’d roadblock the best chances of finding a cure for cystic fibrosis or cancer or Alzheimer’s by adding potentially political, nonresearch factors into medical-research grant decisions,' said Lizbet Boroughs, associate vice president of government relations for the Association of American Universities, which represents 71 research schools." [Wall Street Journal,
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