Jay Bhattacharya discusses pandemic fallout and his plans for American science in Trump 2.0.
Jay Bhattacharya is no longer on the fringe.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the then-Stanford professor was one of the loudest critics of lockdowns, school closures and what he called “utopian” public health planning, and he was often dismissed by mainstream public health officials.
Five years later and Bhattacharya is now the director of the National Institutes of Health, one of the most powerful figures in public health and biomedical research in the U.S. and across the globe. He oversees a budget in the tens of billions and helps determine who gets funded — and whose ideas get left behind.
“The first and most important thing,” he says in a new interview with POLITICO Magazine, “is that dissenting voices need to be heard and allowed.”
In a wide-ranging conversation, Bhattacharya laid out his vision for American science under President Donald Trump and discussed the ongoing fallout from the pandemic. In particular:
- He praises the pardon of Anthony Fauci even as he effectively accuses the former public health official of engaging in a Covid cover-up.
- He endorses the creation of an independent commission to assess the pandemic response.
- He rejects the continued recommendation of mRNA vaccines for healthy young people — and says he himself has received just two doses, both in 2021.
- He explains why he thinks it’s unlikely vaccines cause autism — but that he won’t prejudge the issue.
- He waves off the notion that Europe would be able to poach American scientists amid Trump’s war on elite universities. “France is a nice place to visit,” he scoffs.
Read full article here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/14/jay-bhattacharya-nih-chief-vaccines-covid-interview-00345488
