Trump’s Got a New FDA Chief and NIH Director. They’ve Been Getting Public Health Wrong For Years.
Donald Trump’s new public health officials have long histories of making false and misleading statements related to science.
Written by Dr. Jonathan Howard Published: 3/28/25
Drs. Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya were recently confirmed to head the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, respectively. While Bhattacharya’s vote came down along party lines, three Democrats—Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) Maggie Hassan (N.H.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)—crossed the aisle to back Makary along with the Republicans.
Both doctors have repeatedly spread misinformation regarding COVID-19, glorifying natural immunity, prematurely declaring the pandemic over, minimizing variants, spreading fake statistics, and overhyping vaccine side effects. Important Contextreported extensively on the pair. For example, we reported that Bhattacharya suggested more research into the non-existent connection between vaccines and autism was merited.
We have compiled five examples of false and misleading statements the pair have made over the years about COVID—delivered in their own words.
Dr. Marty Makary
1. In May 2021, Dr. Makary said, “We basically are in herd immunity right now” and “most of the country is at herd immunity.” The Delta and Omicron variants arrived before the end of the year and we still do not have herd immunity to COVID.
2. Though the virus was just over a 1-year-old and COVID reinfections had already been reported, in the summer of 2021, Dr. Makary confidently said, “Immunity is probably lifelong.” In reality, COVID reinfections are trivially common and they are not always benign as described in the article, Study Suggests Reinfections From The Virus That Causes COVID-19 Likely Have Similar Severity As Original Infection.
3. When the Omicron variant arrived, Dr. Makary called it“omi-cold” and “nature’s vaccine.” When the dust settled, the headlines read, During the Omicron Wave, Death Rates Soared for Older People, and Hospitalizations Of Young Children With The Virus Surged During The U.S. Omicron Wave.
4. In 2021, Dr. Makary said that the government was “undermining” “natural immunity” because it was superior to vaccine-immunity. In reality, natural immunity killed 1.2 million Americans and sickened millions more. The vaccine greatly limited COVID’s harms.
5. In 2023, Dr. Makary said, “One thing RFK Jr. did is he would post true stories of children who died immediately after the vaccine. These were otherwise healthy children.”
This was false. The article RFK Jr. Spent Years Stoking Fear And Mistrust Of Vaccines. These People Were Hurt By His Work revealed the disturbing truth:
When 12-year-old Braden Fahey collapsed during football practice and died, it was just the beginning of his parents’ nightmare.
Deep in their grief a few months later, Gina and Padrig Fahey received news that shocked them to their core: A favorite photo of their beloved son was plastered on the cover of a book that falsely argues COVID-19 vaccines caused a spike of sudden deaths among healthy young people.
The book, called “Cause Unknown,” was co-published by an anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, who is now running for president. Kennedy wrote the foreword and promoted the book, tweeting that it details data showing “ COVID shots are a crime against humanity.”
The Faheys couldn’t understand how Braden’s face appeared on the book’s cover, or why his name appeared inside it.
Braden never received the vaccine. His death in August 2022 was due to a malformed blood vessel in his brain. No one ever contacted them to ask about their son’s death, or for permission to use the photo. No one asked to confirm the date of his death — which the book misdated by a year. When the Faheys and residents of their town in California tried to contact the publisher and author to get Braden and his picture taken out of the book, no one responded.
“We reached out in every way possible,” Gina Fahey told The Associated Press in an emotional interview. “We waited months and months to hear back, and nothing.”
For more on Makary, check out this video.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
1. In October 2020, just months before vaccines arrived, Bhattacharya said:
An infection is a severe problem for older populations, and also for people who have certain chronic conditions. For younger populations under 70, it’s much milder.
The next year, COVID became a top 10 killer for every age group except babies, and2022 was even worse for children.
2. In November 2021, Dr. Bhattacharya gave an interviewwhere he said “we’ve had more flu deaths among children this year than COVID deaths.”
This was false. The first reported COVID death in the U.S. was on 2/28/2020. By November that year, COVID had killed at least 133 children according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. During that same time frame, the flu killed 9 children. The next year, the flu killed a single child, while over 150 children died of COVID in January 2022 alone.
3. However, in April 2021, Dr. Bhattacharya had the following exchange with Dr. Zubin Damania:
Dr. Bhattacharya: I mean, I think that the central problem right now I think is the fear that people still feel about COVID…
Dr. Damania: Now, you and I are both vaccinated. We shook hands. We don’t wear masks. We’re about three feet apart from each other. And in the early days of the pandemic that would’ve gotten us both hung. But now I can say with confidence because I’ve looked at the data, like our chances of giving each other COVID are-
Dr. Bhattacharya: Are zero.
Dr. Damania: Pretty much zero…
Dr. Bhattacharya: The vaccine is incredibly effective… And in many ways has defanged the epidemic, it’s taken away the the specter of death and hospitalization that comes with the disease for the older population to the extent that the older population is vaccinated…
Dr. Bhattacharya would complain about “lie that the vax stops disease transmission” and in an article titled The Covid Vaccine Trials: Failures in Design and Interpretationhe said:
For the Covid vaccines, the fundamental goal was not to prevent mild infections but to prevent deaths, hospitalizations, and transmission. Despite this, the randomized controlled trials evaluated short-term reduction in symptomatic Covid infections while failing to address important public health issues. This result was due to badly designed trials. Despite lacking key data, public health agencies made unsubstantiated vaccine claims, published unscientific vaccine recommendations, and imposed unethical vaccine mandates. As a result, vaccine hesitance has increased while the trust in public health has deteriorated…
4. In May 2021, Dr. Bhattacharya discussed herd immunity and said “we are kind of already there.”
He also said COVID was seasonal. On August 1st, 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis quoted Dr. Bhattacharya as saying, “We have protected the vulnerable by vaccinating the older population.” That same day, the headlines read Florida Reports A Record Number Of COVID-19 Cases. Here are some headlines that followed immediately after this:
● “Florida Leads Nation in Number of COVID-19 Deaths of Nursing Home Residents and Staff,” August 2021.
● “School Closures Reported In Five Florida Counties; Districts ‘Drowning’ In COVID,” August 2021.
● “15 Miami-Dade Public School Staff Members Die Of COVID In Just 10 Days,” September 2021.
● “Child Covid Deaths More Than Doubled in Florida as Kids Returned to the Classroom,” September 2021.
5. In October 2020, Dr. Bhattacharya said a 1 in 500 risk of a 40-year-old dying of COVID was “very moderate“ and casually blew off all of COVID’s non-fatal harms.
Later, he said that a 1 in 15,000 risk of vaccine-myocarditis was a “serious side-effect.” In reality, literal death is worse than a vaccine side effect that is usually mild and temporary.
For more misleading statements from Bhattacharya, check out this video.
