Trump appoints Jay Bhattacharya, lockdown critic, to lead NIH

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of COVID-19 lockdowns, to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued that lockdowns caused significant harm. Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor, will work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services. Their focus will be on addressing major health challenges in the U.S. Trump also appointed Jim O’Neill as deputy secretary of HHS. O’Neill is the only nominee with prior experience in the health bureaucracy, while other picks, including Kennedy and Bhattacharya, are considered outsiders.