The United States Senate has confirmed an outspoken critic of COVID-19 lockdowns as the new director of the National Institutes of Health as President Donald Trump’s cabinet continues to take shape.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 53-47 Tuesday to confirm Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as the director of the National Institutes of Health. The vote fell along party lines, with Republicans supporting Bhattacharya’s nomination and Democrats opposing it.
Read: 6 things to know about Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health
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Bhattacharya, who served as the director of Stanford University’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, emerged on the national scene as a staunch critic of the U.S. government’s heavy-handed response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for “focused protection” directed at the sick and elderly most at risk from COVID-19, while allowing everyone else to go about their daily lives.
The proposals in the Great Barrington Declaration differed from the calls for blanket lockdowns and severe restrictions that defined the pandemic response at the local, state and federal levels for much of the country. The document, published in 2020, warned that the lockdowns would lead to “lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health” as well as “greater excess mortality in years to come” with “the working class and younger members of society carrying the highest burden.”
Read: 5 controversies surrounding former NIH Director Francis Collins
The Great Barrington Declaration added that “keeping students out of school” during the pandemic was a “grave injustice.”
Later, the “Twitter Files,” published by independent journalists following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, revealed that Bhattacharya was subject to a “Trends Blacklist” as a result of his work on the Great Barrington Declaration.
More than two months into the second Trump presidency, the Senate has confirmed over three dozen of Trump’s cabinet nominees.
In addition to Bhattacharya, the most recent additions to the Trump cabinet include: Commissioner of Food and Drugs Marty Makary, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg and Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler.
The other most recently confirmed Trump cabinet members are: Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency William Pulte, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Stephen Miran, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Stephen Bradbury, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
Confirmed members of the Trump cabinet also include Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both former Democrats.
Additional cabinet members are: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
The remaining members of the Trump cabinet who have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate are: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Eric Turner, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler.
Several of Trump’s cabinet nominees still await Senate confirmation, including U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See nominee Brian Burch, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Elise Stefanik, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel nominee Mike Huckabee.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
