Jay Bhattacharya Appointed NIH Director by Trump

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a prominent critic of COVID-19 lockdowns, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhattacharya, who has a background in health economics and medicine from Stanford University, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration advocating for targeted protection strategies during the pandemic. His leadership will involve overseeing a $48 billion budget and 27 institutes focused on various health challenges including chronic diseases. Trump expressed that Bhattacharya will collaborate with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, to reform the NIH and improve America's health standards. Bhattacharya has previously expressed strong opposition to lockdown measures, calling them a major public health mistake. His nomination is subject to Senate approval, and it reflects ongoing political debates surrounding public health policy in the wake of the pandemic.