Jay Bhattacharya Was ‘Dangerous.’ Now He Leads the NIH

Apr 2, 2025
Honestly with Bari Weiss

A few years ago Jay Bhattacharya was an obscure Stanford professor—a medical doctor who also had a PhD in economics. Then Covid hit, the lockdowns began, and “Doctor Jay”—as he is sometimes known—became a pariah in the medical community.

That’s because, along with colleagues from Harvard and Oxford, Jay questioned whether the lockdowns were a good idea. They did this in an open letter called the Great Barrington Declaration. And this idea, in the madness of that period, was considered so dangerous by federal health authorities and Big Tech that Jay was not only smeared, but censored. His work—from Reddit to Twitter to Facebook—was suppressed.

But here’s the thing: The lockdowns were pretty disastrous. We’re still dealing with their effects—and it’s still unclear if they were worth it.

The powers that be tried to shut Jay up, yet he persisted. And after surviving that ordeal, he is now the new head of the National Institutes of Health. If you’re skeptical of karma, this turn of events may lead you to believe in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur1NEDhtTb8