"There's a lot of distrust where the money goes and trust in the public health establishment has collapsed in the pandemic."
That’s a statement made by Stanford health professor, economist, and medical doctor Jay Bhattacharya at last week's confirmation hearing for director of the National Institute of Health (NIH).
And there's no better man to lead the NIH than Bhattacharya! In December the Wall Street Journal wrote two long pieces about him that shed light on this remarkable man: Science Needs to Win Back Americans’ Trust - WSJ and The Man Who Fought Fauci—and Won - WSJ.
They questioned my integrity, my values,” Bhattacharya is quoted as saying in the latter article.
“His university hounded him. What kept him going, he says—in addition to the cast-iron conviction that he wasn’t wrong about the science—was his religious faith. ‘I’m a Christian,’ he says. ‘That definitely played a role in giving me strength.’ He was raised Hindu but became a Presbyterian as an 18-year-old....
He used to believe that ‘what made someone important, what gave them moral worth, almost, was how smart they were.’ When he converted, he came to understand ‘how evil that idea was.’ He understood that ‘hubris around your accomplishments, your intelligence, is immoral. Sinful even.’ ... ‘I had all these people essentially saying I was not very smart. But they were attacking a version of me that had already died when I was 18.’
Dr. Bhattacharya believes ‘very strongly that I have a purpose in life, and I’m supposed to use my gifts for this purpose.’ As a health economist and epidemiologist, his avowed purpose is ‘to use my knowledge so that I can make discoveries and suggest policies that would improve the health and well-being of the poor, the vulnerable, and the working-class.’ It wasn’t only the scientist in him but also the Christian that rose up in revolt during the pandemic when he ‘saw the widespread adoption of policies that were not grounded in science, that were harming the welfare of the vulnerable, particularly children.’ He felt he ‘had an obligation to speak. Because what’s the purpose of my career otherwise?’
In the opening remarks of his confirmation hearing, Bhattacharya stated that “a culture of coverup, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs” characterized the official federal COVID response. Yet Democrat senators ignored the obvious lack of transparency, wisdom and integrity during the pandemic which Bhattacharya highlighted, grieving instead over the loss of focus on some absurd things, along with recent cuts to universities for “indirect costs.” Republican senators, however, (with the exception of Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who rejects reviewing the potential for vaccines' link to chronic diseases) eagerly look forward to Bhattacharya’s goal of refocusing the NIH to its stated mission: “To support scientific discovery, enhance health, and lengthen life.”
Amen and Amen!
If confirmed, Bhattacharya’s goals will include:
1) "NIH research should focus on research to solve the American chronic disease crisis. American health is going backwards."
2) "NIH-supported science should be replicable, reproducible, and generalizable. Unfortunately, much modern biomedical science fails this basic test."
3) "[E]stablish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH. …
Dissent is the very essence of science."
4) "NIH must recommit to its mission to fund the most innovative biomedical research agenda possible to improve American health." He later said, "NIH ought to be doing research in support of the public good, not just parochial research in support of a few companies."
5) "NIH … embrace transparency in all its operations." Bhattacharya later said, "I do think that there’s a lot of distrust now coming out of the pandemic of the scientific enterprise and of universities also. The way to address the distrust is transparency."
At the beginning of the pandemic, and repeatedly throughout, I stated that the things being done were absurd, including the policies dictated by the scientists. To illustrate, I proposed the following analogy:
What if Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's Command Surgeon had come to him a day before the D-Day invasion and said, "Sir, my team has evaluated the potential death and injury from the invasion and there are going to be too many men who will die if we proceed and so you need to scrap the mission." Ike would have rightly looked at him and said two things: "Who is your replacement?” and “You're on the first wave in."
The point is, scientists don't get to make the call – they are advisors only. The leader should rightly look at scientific recommendations, but the decisions are ultimately made by those given the responsibilities to act strategically.
Bhattacharya echoed this theme in his testimony. He particularly referenced the egregious impositions of the Teachers Union on our children, where the White House simply rubber-stamped their demands:
[M]illions of children were out of school for years. The rates of suicidality and depression are through the roof. Learning loss will have consequences throughout their entire life. … This is devastating policy that didn't need to happen. … [T]he lockdowns did not save lives, but had tremendous consequences on the well-being of the poor, the working class, on children and the vulnerable.
Alabama’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville rightly questioned the authoritarian perspective that has unfortunately been a hallmark of public health. Bhattacharya committed to decentralizing the decisions so that new ideas can be investigated – further supporting the requisite reestablishment of transparency.
The following are some other important statements Bhattacharya made in the hearing:
"[D]uring the pandemic I would often be on Catholic radio and people would ask me whether the mRNA vaccines were made or developed with [aborted] fetal stem cell lines. I had to say yes. ... In public health, we need to make sure the products of the science are ethically acceptable to everybody."
"I also commit … to supporting research on products that are already off patent that don't necessarily have a drug company behind it."
"[The cover-up of the origins of the virus] is a low point in the history of science. The top officials of the NIH abuse their position to hide support for research that may have caused the pandemic. And I commit to making sure that all of the activity on the NIH, not just backwards, but going forward, are transparent and open.... That’s vitally important for the future of the NIH and future of science itself."
"If science is a force for freedom and for knowledge, it will have universal support."
What will it take for Alabama to begin supporting these commonsense measures to Make Alabama Healthy Again? Let's start by getting rid of those in the fraudulent public health arena who had influence during Covid in our state – those who dictated the absurd that the esteemed Battacharya detailed in his hearing.
And let’s reevaluate the original intent of all public health related entities and adjust based on transparency and knowledge with integrity. After all, lives and health are at stake.
Dr. Tankersley is a fourth-generation physician serving in the Montgomery area. He also served on three deployments in the U.S. Army’s Medical Corp, retiring in 2021 as a Colonel in the Alabama Army National Guard. In 2012, Gov. Robert Bentley appointed him to a five-year term on the Alabama Ethics Commission, and in 2020, Gov. Kay Ivey appointed him to the state’s vaccine working group. Besides being involved in church activities, Dr. Tankersley enjoys reading and spending time with his family.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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