We asked docs what they think about Trump’s pick to head the FDA: 'We’re going in the wrong direction'
Key Takeaways
Industry Buzz
“What worries me about him is [that] he's defended RFK Jr. [...] Why does he think he'll be good for the public's health when all the evidence is he won't [be]?” — Paul Offit, MD
“Folks that were vaccine deniers, that were against masking, that were against social distancing—that's all concerning because we know that those things worked.” — Kanwar Kelley, MD
Find more of your peers' perspectives and insights below.
An outspoken critic of the FDA is now expected to lead it under the Trump administration.[]
Martin “Marty” Makary, who stirred controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic over his views on public health measures, is slated to be the new commissioner of the FDA. It’s an appointment that has some public health experts worried.
“He's done some good things, Marty Makary, but I do worry about his, for example, signing the Great Barrington Declaration, basically saying, ‘Let's just let this virus run wild.’ I think that was a mistake,” Paul Offit, MD, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, tells MDLinx.
The Great Barrington Declaration was an open letter published in October 2020 that advocated for avoiding COVID-19 lockdowns through “focused protection,” in which those at greatest risk of harm were protected while the rest of society would live with eased restrictions, with the goal of achieving herd immunity.[]
Makary’s defense of RFK Jr.
But that's not the only concern for Dr. Offit and other physicians.
Related: 'Chaos will ensue': Docs fear 'nightmare' HHS future
"What worries me about him is [that] he's defended RFK Jr. [...] Why does he think he'll be good for the public's health when all the evidence is he won't [be]?"
— Paul Offit, MD
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Makary criticized public health measures including masking for children and lockdowns. He also questioned the potential benefits of vaccine boosters.[]
“Folks that were vaccine deniers, that were against masking, that were against social distancing—that's all concerning because we know that those things worked," Kanwar Kelley, MD, JD, a board-certified otolaryngologist and the co-founder and CEO of Side Health, tells MDLinx. "They may not have worked perfectly, but we knew that they helped, and that many lives were saved. The fact that some of these folks are now going to be in decision-making positions remains concerning."
Related: Docs react to potential HHS Chief of Staff Heather Flick: 'She's being put in there as a guardrail to try and reassure people'Makary’s views on vaccine mandates
In 2022, Makary wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal speaking out against vaccine mandates.[] He argued that “public-health officials ruined many lives by insisting that workers with natural immunity to COVID-19 be fired if they weren’t fully vaccinated. [T]he superiority of natural immunity over vaccinated immunity is clear.”
But experts argue it’s not that simple. “I think natural immunity probably is better in the sense that you're getting an immune response to all four viral proteins, and not just the one viral protein that you're getting in the vaccine,” Dr. Offit says. “Here's the problem with natural immunity: You might die trying to acquire it, as was true for 1.1 million people in this country.”
Dr. Offit argues that when it comes to vaccination rates, the United States is experiencing some worrying trends. “We're going in the wrong direction. It's because parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children; in large part, because they're being scared about vaccines from people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who uses his famous name—and instead of doing it to work for the forces of good, he doesn't.”