Trump nominates COVID-19 lockdown critic Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday night nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a major opponent of COVID-19 mask mandates and lockdowns during the pandemic, to lead the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Bhattacharya was one of the three authors of the October 2020 open letter "The Great Barrington Declaration," which criticized the strict mandates. He has also claimed that lockdowns during the pandemic had done more damage than good.

Trump said in his announcement that Bhattacharya will work alongside his Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to restore the NIH to a "gold standard of medical research."