Senate confirms Trump's nominee to run NIH
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.

Ocelot II
(123,932 posts)riversedge
(74,743 posts)prevented for people to start using their brains. Maybe. Or we will just become a third world--except the rich and powerful.
yellow dahlia
(2,101 posts)Soon we will be a "shit-hole" country.
It makes me so angry and so sad.
Bettie
(18,099 posts)have doubled down on their anti-vax beliefs.
People don't seem to give a single fuck if their own kids die from preventable diseases...so, they won't care about thousands of other people's kids dying either.
The Republican party is a death cult.
William Seger
(11,505 posts)... herd immunity only works if getting the disease once creates immunity, and we already knew that isn't true for Covid-19. Bhattacharya is yet another on a LONG list of nominees who should not be anywhere near public service.
LudwigPastorius
(12,023 posts)I hope somebody asked this shithead how herd immunity has worked out for stopping the spread of the common cold.
AmericaUnderSiege
(777 posts)His actual position is that the (poor) young should be used as human shields against disease for fossilized Nazis like Donald Trump.
LPBBEAR
(510 posts)happen after hundreds of years of exposure. After 5 years of exposure it hasn't happened. This guy is nuts. He'll probably make the same dangerous claim if Bird Flu gets loose. Dr. Jay Bhatshitcrazya