Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced his selection of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to head the National Institutes of Health.
Bhattacharya, a physician with a doctorate in economics and a professor at Stanford University, came to prominence during the coronavirus pandemic as a skeptic of heavy-handed responses.
He was a co-author of The Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020 which argued for “focused protection” of those vulnerable to the virus but the end of draconian restrictions for those who weren’t vulnerable to the virus.
This newspaper proudly published two commentaries by Bhattacharya. In one, he outlined key public health lessons from the pandemic.
One, “The precautionary principle permits us to assume the worst about the threat we face until we learn more, but it does not allow us to assume without evidence that all possible interventions we adopt are worthwhile. We still need to count the costs.”
Second, “Public health should adopt realistic goals that take advantage of the threat’s biology and aim at protecting the vulnerable, rather than utopian ones that inevitably lead to worse outcomes.”
And third “A noble lie is still a lie. The public’s trust in public health is a precious commodity that should be preserved with an ironclad commitment to truth-telling.”
Bhattacharya’s wisdom will be a breath of fresh air at the NIH.
As noted by Reason Magazine’s Christian Britschgi, “Bhattacharya’s nomination to head NIH will also have major implications for the funding of so-called ‘gain-of-function’ research and investigations into COVID-19’s possible origins in an NIH-funded Chinese lab.”
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He has been harshly and appropriately critical of Anthony Fauci for his deflections on the possible link between NIH-funded gain-of-function research and the pandemic. And, accordingly, he has served on the board of directors of Biosafety Now, which advocates for tighter controls over such research.
“Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease,” announced Trump.
While this editorial board is skeptical of RFK Jr., Bhattacharya is a fantastic choice.
We wish Bhattacharya luck and hope he can bring a reasoned, balanced and competent approach to the NIH.