Senate confirms Trump's nominee to run NIH [View all]
Source: The Hill
03/25/25 6:41 PM ET
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed health researcher Jay Bhattacharya as the next leader of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhattacharya was confirmed on a party- line vote, 53 to 47.
Bhattacharya became a celebrity among many Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic for criticizing masking orders, school closures and other measures meant to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Bhattacharya was one of the primary authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document signed by thousands of public health experts in late 2020 that pushed the argument of “herd immunity;” allowing the virus to spread among lower-risk, younger people to build up immunity while having “focused protection” on older, high-risk people.
Federal officials like former NIH Director Francis Collins, top COVID adviser Anthony Fauci and many others criticized the letter as dangerous and unethical.
The Stanford economist and physician said he became a pariah among the scientific establishment for his views and has indicated he will run the NIH in a way that embraces scientific dissent — even in cases where numerous studies have shown the science is settled, like a debunked link between the measles shot and autism.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5213872-jay-bhattacharya-senate-confirmed-nih/
No (D) or (I) who caucuses with (D)s voted for this idiot.
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