Trump Selects Johns Hopkins Surgeon Makary to Lead FDA who argued against COVID lockdowns

[Social Media]

 

President-elect Donald Trump announced his decision to appoint Marty Makary, a prominent Johns Hopkins surgeon and author, as the new head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Makary, known for his critical stance on pandemic lockdowns, will be tasked with overseeing the agency's $7 billion budget and its regulation of the $3.6 trillion market of food, tobacco, and medical products, including approximately 20,000 prescription drugs. Trump stated that Makary would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick for health secretary, to address critical public health issues, including harmful chemicals in food and drugs.  

 

"He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic," Trump declared in his announcement.  

 

Makary rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a vocal critic of lockdowns and other public health measures, frequently challenging mainstream recommendations. While he is a respected transplant surgeon, his pandemic commentary drew both support and criticism. He often appeared on Fox News and penned opinion articles questioning the effectiveness of measures such as masking children and mandating vaccines.

 

Although he supported vaccinations, he opposed mandates and doubted the widespread need for booster doses, diverging from the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  

 

Makary’s views on natural immunity also became a subject of significant debate. In early 2021, he predicted that much of the U.S. would achieve herd immunity by April, a forecast that proved overly optimistic. Instead, virus-related deaths surged later that year with the emergence of new variants, making 2021 deadlier than the pandemic's first year. Despite this, Makary defended his stance, arguing that natural immunity was underestimated by health officials.  

 

"One reason public health officials may be afraid to acknowledge the effectiveness of natural immunity is that they fear it will lead some to choose getting the infection over vaccination. That's a legitimate concern. But we can encourage all Americans to get vaccinated while still being honest about the data," Makary wrote in *The Washington Post*.  

 

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Makary shifted his focus back to his longstanding critique of the U.S. health care system, which he has described as broken, overpriced, and riddled with unnecessary tests. He also began emphasizing concerns about America's food industry, aligning his views with those of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

 

"We've got a poisoned food supply. We've got pesticides. We've got ultra-processed foods and all sorts of things that have been in the blind spots in modern medicine," Makary said during a September interview with Fox News.  

 

Makary praised Trump's decision to select Kennedy for the role of health secretary, noting their shared commitment to addressing corruption within health agencies. "He wants to address corruption in health care and corruption in our government health agencies," Makary stated. He has also criticized FDA leadership in the past, describing the agency as operating like a "crusty librarian" who favors certain stakeholders over others.  

 

If confirmed by the Senate, Makary’s tenure at the FDA is likely to draw both scrutiny and support as he confronts the agency's role in regulating critical aspects of public health, alongside Kennedy, who also requires Senate confirmation.  

 

Based on a report by ABC News 2024-11-25

 

 

 

[Thingamabob]

The lockdowns were a societal disaster the effects of which will haunt us for years to come. 

[spidermike007]

I was not a follower nor a believer in the covid narrative, on so many levels, some lock downs were Justified, many were not, some should have been stronger, some should not have taken place. And the vaccines were obviously of limited efficacy, especially in regard to the subsequent variants. There were so many aspects of the narrative that were questionable. So are the dictates of the CDC, the WHO and the FDA. And Fauci. 

[Paul Henry]

I would strongly suggest that Americans who are unhappy with the disasterous outcome of the Covid pandemic look at the death rate per head of population and compare their figures with countries that had scientific backed management stratergies like mask mandates,isolation,social distancing, lockdowns,travel restrictions and vaccination programmes. Trumps "no idea" (BS) it will go away in a few weeks and his other childish and uneducated claims resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnessesary deaths and many more citizens still suffering today from them falling victim to the wild conspiracy theorys that should have been put down and debunked before they became the norm for the uneducated. Statistics don't lie.

[candide]

I am fully in favour of healthy food, in particular reducing the use of pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture, and the use of additives in processed food. However, it will obviously require more regulations and constraints.

 

It will  be interesting to see how it will collide with Trumps pledge to cut regulations in order to increase performance and how the agri-business, which is a strong GOP backer, will react to it 😃

[Keep Right]

1 hour ago, Paul Henry said:

I would strongly suggest that Americans who are unhappy with the disasterous outcome of the Covid pandemic look at the death rate per head of population and compare their figures with countries that had scientific backed management stratergies like mask mandates,isolation,social distancing, lockdowns,travel restrictions and vaccination programmes. Trumps "no idea" (BS) it will go away in a few weeks and his other childish and uneducated claims resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnessesary deaths and many more citizens still suffering today from them falling victim to the wild conspiracy theorys that should have been put down and debunked before they became the norm for the uneducated. Statistics don't lie.

Actually, statistics do lie and they lie big time.

 

Mark Twain popularized the saying in Chapters from My Autobiography, published in the North American Review in 1907. "Figures often beguile me," Twain wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/02/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-how-bad-statistics-are-feeding-fake-news/

[candide]

44 minutes ago, Keep Right said:

Actually, statistics do lie and they lie big time.

 

Mark Twain popularized the saying in Chapters from My Autobiography, published in the North American Review in 1907. "Figures often beguile me," Twain wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/02/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-how-bad-statistics-are-feeding-fake-news/

What has Mark Twain to do with Covid-related statistics? For example the fact that the death rate was higher among non-vaccinated than vaccinated.

[placnx]

2 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

I would strongly suggest that Americans who are unhappy with the disasterous outcome of the Covid pandemic look at the death rate per head of population and compare their figures with countries that had scientific backed management stratergies like mask mandates,isolation,social distancing, lockdowns,travel restrictions and vaccination programmes. Trumps "no idea" (BS) it will go away in a few weeks and his other childish and uneducated claims resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnessesary deaths and many more citizens still suffering today from them falling victim to the wild conspiracy theorys that should have been put down and debunked before they became the norm for the uneducated. Statistics don't lie.

Yes, and Jay Bhattacharya was appointed to head NIH (National Institutes of Health) , the principal government agency that conducts and supports medical research. He is one of the three initiators of the Great Barrington Declaration, which was supported by DeSantis in a 1h45 event in the state capitol in March 2021. This group was backed by a libertarian think tank in Great Barrington, MA. It gave an academic, quasi-scientific mask for the anti-vax view:

https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/3-18-21-roundtable-discussion-on-public-health/

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/03/18/fact-checking-claims-made-by-experts-brought-in-by-desantis-analyze-his-covid-response/  

https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/5-failings-great-barrington-declaration

 

Bhattacharya is a senior fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution.

[dinsdale]

Interesting that the headline intonates a negative but anyone who looks outside of the CDC, WHO, Govt and legacy media narrative is well aware that he was correct. Bring on Trump, bring on RFK Jnr. and bring on a full open and transparent enquiry into the pandemic. Few years back some of us on here were saying eventually the truth will come out. Might be a lot sooner than I thought. Seems like another Trump appointment that's going to help shake things up. The good people of the USA voted overwhelmingly for change and change is a comin'.

[Yagoda]

3 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

I would strongly suggest that Americans who are unhappy with the disasterous outcome of the Covid pandemic look at the death rate per head of population and compare their figures with countries that had scientific backed management stratergies like mask mandates,isolation,social distancing, lockdowns,travel restrictions and vaccination programmes. Trumps "no idea" (BS) it will go away in a few weeks and his other childish and uneducated claims resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnessesary deaths and many more citizens still suffering today from them falling victim to the wild conspiracy theorys that should have been put down and debunked before they became the norm for the uneducated. Statistics don't lie.

You are just spouting propaganda.

 

Figures may not lie, but liars use figures.

[Yagoda]

14 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Interesting that the headline intonates a negative but anyone who looks outside of the CDC, WHO, Govt and legacy media narrative is well aware that he was correct. Bring on Trump, bring on RFK Jnr. and bring on a full open and transparent enquiry into the pandemic. Few years back some of us on here were saying eventually the truth will come out. Might be a lot sooner than I thought. Seems like another Trump appointment that's going to help shake things up. The good people of the USA voted overwhelmingly for change and change is a comin'.

Of course it is the subject of hysteria. The scandals coming will be enormous.

[john donson]

we were all forced into become prisoners at home, for so called 6 weeks and it took 2 years...

 

90% blindly followed safe and effective on all tv channels sponsored by the guys that got 10 billion dollar tax payers money to make a vaccine with no liability and made hundreds of billions of profit...

 

maybe AN should hold a poll to see how many times users got vaxxed ...  include ZERO in the poll option

[mogandave]

16 minutes ago, john donson said:

we were all forced into become prisoners at home, for so called 6 weeks and it took 2 years...

 

90% blindly followed safe and effective on all tv channels sponsored by the guys that got 10 billion dollar tax payers money to make a vaccine with no liability and made hundreds of billions of profit...

 

maybe AN should hold a poll to see how many times users got vaxxed ...  include ZERO in the poll option

Paid holiday for union teachers 

[Paul Henry]

I am amazed that so many people "do not believe" the statistics the first Trump administration declared after the Covid outbreak.Yes of course we cannot trust The World Health Organisation or Johns Hopkins University they have things to hide. There are none so BLIND than he who will not see. If you cannot win the arguement blame the statistics.

[JonnyF]

Wow, the news just keeps getting better and better. 

 

Lockdowns were a disaster on so many levels. A shameful period of the 21st century (of which there have been many).

 

Great choice Donald.

[rickudon]

Lockdowns where a tool, and if used correctly helped slow the spread of the virus and hence deaths. We should bare in mind that the most draconian lockdown happened in China - and was very effective in stopping the virus.

 

Air travel was responsible for a lot of the spread, should have been curtailed earlier - not stopped, but all travellers quarantined.

 

The question is - no lockdowns may have caused the collapse of health services, and even greater numbers of deaths, but come at an economic cost. What price on a life.

 

As for which countries did best - hard to tell - the collected statistics for most under developed countries probably missed most cases, and in the first year many deaths were not recorded as Covid, but implied by excess deaths usually twice as high as recorded deaths, As for USA and nearly all of Europe, death rates were fairly similar - usually over 0,3%, with some Eastern European countries over 0.5%. So nothing these countries did got better results than neighbouring countries.

Australia and New Zealand, due to shutting down air travel and applying selective lockdowns, did best at 0.1%

[candide]

1 hour ago, rickudon said:

The question is - no lockdowns may have caused the collapse of health services, and even greater numbers of deaths, but come at an economic cost. What price on a life.

That's the main issue.