How many of you know much about Trump’s nominees to the various health agencies? I did recognize the names of the recent appointments, but to be honest, that’s are far as it went. Therefore when I read an article in Epoch Health, I thought that some of it would educational for my readers.
All of the following are excerpts from that 12/14/24 article from Epoch Health.
NIH Director: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
The National Institutes of Health is the largest funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the United States and worldwide.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University and the new pick for the head of the NIH, would be making decisions on allocating potentially $50.1 billion of funds into research that would benefit American’s interest. Some expect Bhattacharya to reform the funding process to ensure that priorities for research grant approvals are driven by uncovering the root causes of the chronic disease epidemic in the United States rather than symptom mitigation medications.
“The NIH haven’t focused on any of the issues like obesity, they’ve done very little work on diabetes … smoking, these are major problems In the United States,” Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics and medicine at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, told the Epoch Times in an interview.
The thing that I remember most about Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
is that he co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration with two other researchers. The Declaration advocated for focused protection, proposing that public health measures be primarily directed toward high-risk individuals while allowing young and healthy people to return to normal life.
As we have since learned the Great Barrington Declaration was spot on!
FDA Commissioner: Marty Makary
Dr. Marty Makary, a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of several books, is seen as a person who values evidence more than consensus.
Makary’s op-eds throughout the pandemic showed an evolving view that adapted as more research emerged.
Makary criticized the way the CDC was keeping records on COVID-19 deaths, arguing that it has inflated COVID-19 mortality numbers by not differentiating people who died from COVID-19 as compared to those who died with COVID-19.
Makary welcomed vaccinations but has criticized the policymakers’ sole focus on driving up vaccination without considering herd immunity and also that children had significantly lower risks of dying from COVID-19 provided they did not have chronic health disease.
On problems with food and chemicals, at a congressional roundtable discussion hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc), Makary echoed beliefs Kennedy said during his campaign.
CDC Director: Dr. Dave Weldon
Prior to reading the aforementioned Epoch Health piece, I do not recall ever hearing Dr. Weldon’s name before, and consequently knew nothing about him.
Weldon is well known for being a skeptic of vaccine safety and a critic of the CDC.
During his time in Congress, from 1996 to 2008, Weldon tried three times to introduce a bill that would ban mercury vaccines. The bill was blocked each time by the health subcommittees.
Weldon’s views align closely with Kennedy’s on examining vaccine safety and removing conflicts of interest in health agencies.
At the start of his testimony at a 2002 hearing discussing vaccines and autism, Weldon praised vaccination systems as significant breakthroughs. However, he criticized the lack of transparency from agencies like the CDC, which does not allow researchers to access the vaccine safety data, and suggested “to open it up and let objective scientists look at it.”
He added that unless there is an open dialogue on vaccine safety, he will “never be satisfied that there isn’t some data suggesting that some children may have serious side effects,” including potential side effects of autism.
Three interesting picks for these health agencies. The next four years will certainly be very interesting!
1/14/25