Latest news with #GreatBarringtonDeclaration
Gulf Insider
22-05-2025
- Health
- Gulf Insider
Masked NIH Employees Storm Out Of Meeting After Director Bhattacharya Questions Agency's Role In COVID-19 Origins
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sparked a mass walkout of NIH employees after suggesting that COVID-19 may have originated from a Wuhan lab and that NIH helped fund it. During a staff town hall meeting on Monday, Bhattacharya told NIH employees, 'It's possible that the pandemic was caused by research conducted by human beings, and it's also possible that the NIH partly sponsored that research.' That comment prompted dozens of NIH employees to walk out of the meeting. NEW: NIH Director @DrJBhattacharya sparks mass walkout from NIH employees after suggesting COVID-19 may have originated from the Wuhan lab — and that NIH helped fund it."It's possible that the pandemic was caused by research conducted by human beings, and it's also possible… — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 20, 2025 As the NIH employees, some wearing masks, stormed out of the meeting, Bhattacharya called after them, 'Nice to have free speech. You're welcome, you guys.' Bhattacharya told the remaining employees, 'If it's true that we sponsored research that caused the pandemic — and if you look at polls of the American people, that's what most people believe, and I've looked at the scientific evidence and I believe it — [then] what we have to do is make sure that we don't engage in research that is any risk…to human populations.' The U.S. has faced growing scrutiny for the NIH's participation in controversial virus manipulation experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where the FBI and CIA both believe the COVID-19 virus originated. As the new director of NIH, Bhattacharya has also faced a $2.7 billion cut in funding from the federal government as well as the layoffs of more than 1,200 staff members. Bhattacharya has argued that the cuts are necessary since, 'There's been a line of research supported by the NIH that I don't actually fundamentally believe is scientific and that is ideological in nature.' The new NIH director became well known during the pandemic for his support of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for ending lockdowns for all but the most vulnerable.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
NPR reporter says she was censored by boss during Covid lockdowns
Advertisement An NPR reporter says she was censored by a boss at the public radio network after suggesting they report on anti-lockdown proposals during COVID. Meghna Chakrabarti, host of On Point, said earlier this week that she wanted to do a show on the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020 as the pandemic raged. The declaration dismissed most lockdown and social distancing measures as superfluous. But Chakrabarti says an unnamed boss shut the idea down. 'There was a point in time where I wanted to actually do a show on the Great Barrington Declaration,' the NPR longtimer revealed. 'I wanted to do a very just a rigorous analysis... [and] try to bring some evidence to scrutinize it [either] positively or negatively... 'There was one person in particular that was a colleague of mine, who just said, we cannot talk about it,' she said of the declaration. 'That even talking about it in a rigorous objective manner is spreading misinformation. 'I'll never forget that,' she continued - leading Zweig to remark: '[The] hairs on the back of my neck just stood up.' 'But this person is someone I deeply respect and admire, and their decisions are top notch, highly, highly intelligent,' Chakrabarti went on to explain. '[But] I wanna bring up this story,' she asserted. 'I wanna bring up this story specifically because fear.' Chakrabarti did not name her colleague, but discussed the incident during a chat with New York journalist David Zweig about the harmful effects of lockdowns five years on. Zweig, Chakrabarti's guest, has written extensively on the US' COVID-19 response for publications for like Atlantic, New York Magazine, and The New York Times . His coverage has been critical, framing the closures of public schools and other social distancing measures as 'one of the worst American policy failures in a century'. Chakrabarti said she was troubled by school closures during fall 2020, around the time three doctors created the Great Barrington Report, which was slammed by most in the liberal media. She then brought up how figures like Francis Collins - the then director of the National Institutes of Health - 'wanted to squash the declaration' perhaps prematurely, on the basis it was 'a bad idea.' Penned by Harvard's Martin Kulldorff, Oxford's Sunetra Gupta, and the NIH's Jay Bhattacharya it preached the notion of 'focused protection', and that those most at risk of dying should only undergo measures to be kept safe - no one else. Collins, 75, left his post in December 2021, and Anthony Fauci - a figure who also framed the well-cited open letter as 'nonsense and very dangerous' - resigned a year later. Both played integral roles in the US government's widely ridiculed pandemic response, which Chakrabarti said created 'political pressures' in NPR's newsroom. She added how the anecdote proved Americans, at the time, could not have 'certain conversations', as fears permeated during the pandemic's early days. Many have since accused members of the media of perpetuating that fear - all at the behest of the federal government. World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - who still holds his position - bashed the herd immunity concept proposed in the Great Barrington Declaration as 'scientifically and ethically problematic.' David Nabarro, a special envoy of the health agency, claimed lockdowns could only be avoided 'if governments [first] impose some reasonable restrictions like social distancing and universal masks and install test and trace strategies.' Such a response - the one the government ultimately went with - has since been questioned by a steady stream of scientists. Others have slammed the government's decision-making process at the time, saying it negatively affected healthy citizens who were at lesser risk of infection. 'Herd immunity against COVID-19 should be achieved by protecting people through vaccination,' the WHO continues to maintain on its website. '[N]ot by exposing them to the pathogen that causes the disease.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The FDA names a new vaccine chief with an unsettling record, joining a controversial team
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways In late March, Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official, was forced out of his job by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a resignation letter, Marks wrote that the Trump administration's willingness to undermine confidence in vaccines was 'irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation's health, safety, and security.' He added that Kennedy was only interested in 'subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies' about vaccine safety. Seven weeks later, the FDA named Marks' successor: Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist and oncologist. That wouldn't necessarily be a notable development from a political perspective, except, as NBC News reported, the FDA's new vaccine chief 'has been accused of spreading misinformation about Covid vaccines and was an outspoken critic of the agency's decision to approve Covid shots in children.' From the article: He spent much of the pandemic criticizing the FDA's and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's response to the virus. In a 2021 blog post and an accompanying video, Prasad suggested the national response to Covid might bring on the collapse of democracy, invoking the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich in Germany. On the blog that year, Prasad downplayed the anti-vaccine activism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... specifically his role in a 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa. On Bari Weiss' contrarian website, The Free Press, Prasad seemed to defend Kennedy's most controversial positions on vaccines, raw milk and fluoride by listing other countries that have policies that align with Kennedy's views. What's more, the report noted that Prasad has been an outspoken critic of his predecessor, arguing in 2022 that Marks 'might be the worst FDA regulator in modern history' after the approval of Covid boosters in children. Last year, he called on Marks to be fired 'ASAP.' Prasad didn't immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. Complicating matters further is the public health team that Prasad is poised to join. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the Trump-backed director of the National Institutes of Health, helped write the bizarre 'Great Barrington Declaration' during the pandemic. Dr. Martin Makary, the Trump-backed FDA chief, also has a problematic record related to vaccines. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, the Trump-backed nominee for surgeon general, has been a prominent voice on Fox News; she has little public health experience; and she's been critical of vaccine requirements. These officials will, of course, work under RFK Jr., a longtime proponent of ridiculous conspiracy theories and bizarre scientific ideas. The Trump administration will have a dramatic impact on many issues and areas of public life, but few are as likely to be as consequential as its effects on public health. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
BREAKING: Trump HHS posts ‘so-called report' pushing conversion therapy & discrediting gender-affirming care
The Trump administration escalated its assault on transgender youth Thursday with the release of a controversial new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that promotes conversion therapy and discredits gender-affirming care. Advocates and experts have said the report is filled with misinformation about both. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Commissioned under President Donald Trump's January Executive Order 14187, the 409-page report falsely claims medical transition is harmful and unproven, and promotes 'exploratory therapy'—a rebranded version of conversion practices widely condemned by major medical associations. Related: New Trump Medicaid directive attacks trans people's access to gender-affirming care The order directed HHS to attack WPATH's standards of care, revoke federal funding for transition-related treatments, and reshape public health policy to align with Trump's political agenda. NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has no background in gender-affirming care, introduced the report. Bhattacharya rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a co-author of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, which pushed to lift lockdowns and allow widespread infection to build herd immunity—a position sharply rejected by public health experts. The HHS report claims that gender-affirming care lacks evidence of benefit, but makes this argument by dismissing peer-reviewed research and reframing therapeutic approaches as medical risks. It labels the gender-affirming care model as experimental and portrays puberty blockers and hormone treatments as unethical interventions pushed by activists rather than doctors. While the document stops short of issuing policy mandates, critics say it lays the groundwork for future federal restrictions. Notably, the report endorses what it calls 'gender exploratory therapy,' which it positions as an alternative to what it derides as 'affirmation-only' approaches. But experts say this is simply conversion therapy under a new name. 'They can call it whatever they want,' said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute. 'The idea is the same—it is a practice with a predetermined goal: to try to change who someone is. That is the definition of conversion therapy.' Baker warned that the rebranding is a deliberate attempt to avoid the legal and political liabilities now associated with a discredited and widely banned practice. In its press release, HHS emphasized that the report's authors would remain anonymous. While unnamed authorship on agency reviews is not unprecedented, a former HHS official told The Advocate it is highly irregular for the department to spotlight the anonymity. Medical and legal experts immediately denounced the report's implications. 'Today's report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda,' said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. 'It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people.' GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called the document 'discredited junk science.' 'A report in the suggestion that someone's authentic self and who they are can be 'changed' is discredited junk science,' Ellis said in a statement. 'This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.' Janna Barkin, author of He's Always Been My Son and A Grand Love, has a 27-year-old transgender son who transitioned as a minor. In an interview with The Advocate, Barkin called the report 'deeply troubling' and 'extremely disappointing.' 'My child was struggling, depressed, and anxious until he received thoughtful, lifesaving care,' Barkin said. 'We found medical professionals who helped guide our decisions, and after he got the care he needed, his light came back. He was able to live fully and happily as the man he is.' She warned that this kind of government interference not only undermines science but endangers lives. 'I feel like trans people are being used to push an agenda that seeks to eliminate not just trans people, but other marginalized communities as well,' Barkin said. 'It is terrifying. Trans kids are waking up afraid. Trans adults are afraid. This administration's focus on erasing people is not about protecting children—it's about control.' The Trevor Project warned the report may further endanger trans youth, who already face high rates of suicide. Research consistently shows that gender-affirming care improves mental health outcomes, while conversion efforts increase the risk of depression and suicide. Related: Doctors warn of 'terrifying' effects as Trump creates snitch line to report gender-affirming care patients 'It is deeply troubling to see the country's top authority on health publish a collection of recommendations that seemingly have no basis in following established health care best practices, science, or input from providers who actually administer the type of health care in question," director of law and policy at The Trevor Project, Casey Pick, said in a statement. "This report not only rejects health care best practices for transgender people — it goes a step further by recommending conversion therapy, though under a new, rebranded name, 'exploratory therapy'. Despite the report's claims, this is, in fact, the same harmful practice of conversion therapy, just using friendlier language." Baker, a nationally recognized, Johns Hopkins-educated expert on health equity, told The Advocate the HHS report is 'a political document pretending to be science.' 'This is conversion therapy under a different name,' Baker, who is trans, said. 'It is a cynical, dangerous attempt to rebrand a practice that's been proven to harm people and dress it up as 'exploration.' But the intent is the same: to deny trans youth the care they need.' Baker emphasized that 'every major U.S. medical association supports gender-affirming care because it saves lives and affirms dignity.' 'This document does the opposite,' he said. 'It undermines trust, spreads misinformation, and leaves families and providers wondering if they'll be prosecuted for doing the right thing.' 'It's gaslighting, plain and simple,' said Barkin. 'They're trying to paint care as danger and danger as protection.' Adrian Shanker, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Biden administration, criticized the administration's approach: 'Trans people, like all Americans, deserve the highest quality health care and deserve to know the science behind our health decisions, which is why this report is so concerning—it's a compilation of junk science parading as a scientific report.' Shanker also highlighted procedural issues, noting that the report's conclusions were predetermined by the executive order: 'This administration has missed no opportunities to remove the rights and health of trans people, and they've really proven just how far they will go for an anti-trans agenda.' Shanker emphasized, 'Efforts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity have been attempted for decades, and in every instance they've caused harm. Conversion therapy doesn't convert anyone, and it's not therapy; it's just harm.' Editor's note: This developing story has been updated with additional reporting.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion - Leland Vittert's War Notes: Memory of a Toddler
NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight's 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here. Great news: 25% off 'Born Lucky' during the Barnes & Noble sale for three days only! My story of being diagnosed with autism and my dad's fight to keep me from being defined by it. Click here to watch the book launch video to understand the story a little more. This book is about hope for parents and kids struggling right now. Use code: PREORDER25 – it expires Friday. War Notes exclusive: On Sunday, October 5, I will host a virtual book event only for 'War Notes' subscribers. My partner on the book, Don Yaeger, will interview me and then open up to questions from you via Zoom. The event is free, but you must be a 'War Notes' subscriber and have bought the book by October 2. Now is a great time to lock in your savings with 25% off – buy a few copies as Christmas presents with the sale. A couple of weeks before the event, we will give you information on how to attend – make sure you save your preorder confirmation email – obviously, if you already purchased the book, THANK YOU, and you will be invited, too! Autism today: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, now the head of the National Institutes of Health, on autism: 'Sec. Kennedy has asked me to initiate a study on the cause of the rise in autism. It's a question that is at the front of the minds of so many parents … yet scientific progress on this has been slow because scientists are frankly scared to ask the question.' WOW: What an admission that 'scientists are frankly scared to ask the question.' Bhattacharya knows a lot about being on the 'wrong side' of science – he wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, making the case for an end to lockdowns during COVID. He got shellacked for it. Francis Collins, former head of the National Institutes of Health, famously called Bhattacharya and the other authors of the Great Barrington Declaration 'fringe' scientists. Bhattacharya turned out to be right about COVID … we'll see what he finds with autism! More importantly: Why wouldn't we want to find the scientific reason for autism diagnoses going from 1 in 1000 when I was born to 1 in 31 now?!?! In politics, you have to keep winning – the American people have memory spans shorter than a toddler, and the closing of the border and ending DEI programs are now things of the past. Let's objectively look at headlines of this week: 'Trump to let Putin keep land seized from Ukraine,' headlines The Telegraph. 'Rubio says Iran can have civilian nuclear program if it gives up enrichment,' writes the Times of Israel. 'Trump weighs slashing China tariffs to 50% to 65% to help ease tensions,' The New York Post reports. These aren't fake news – in fact, they are basically the White House's own talking points. How are any of those three things going to get President Trump a win? Trump always declares victory, but that doesn't mean a win. The American people feel the border is closed – we can see it. The American people feel DEI is dead – we feel a change in the culture – you can make jokes now. Maybe appeasing Putin, the ayatollah and Xi will somehow result in a stronger America with a more robust economy, but that is difficult to see right now. Be fair: Trying to judge the Trump administration on a day-to-day basis is difficult – all of those things could change tomorrow. We could: Bomb Iran. Put pressure on Putin to take his medicine or face crippling tariffs and banking sanctions. Finally stand up to China and not bend a knee when the markets get squishy. Flexibility: The problem with Trump's love of flexibility is that our adversaries and allies know this – they can wait a few weeks, let Trump get uncomfortable and then he will start to get flexible. Watch tonight: David Bossie, Trump's 2016 deputy campaign manager and close confidant of the president, with how President Trump gets a win this summer. P.S.: The Washington Post reports that the administration is considering possible tax increases on those making more than $1 million per year – most of America would consider that a win. For the sake of the economy and our 401(k)s, we should hope that Tesla is NOT the next Bud Light – they never recovered from the advertisement of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney showing off beer. Of course, Elon Musk throwing his weight behind President Trump is different. Tesla makes the most American-made cars. Tesla ownership used to be the Left's favorite way to prove virtue. Tesla objectively makes cars a few standard deviations better than their electric competitors – and its full self-driving feature is amazing. If Tesla continues to struggle, it will hurt every American – the company makes up enough of the S&P 500 that an evaporation of Tesla stock value will reverberate through the economy. Yesterday's Tesla Q1 earnings report showed a 71% drop in sales compared to the same quarter last year – that's wild. So Elon Musk heads back to Tesla in May – what can he do? Sure, Tesla vandals – like the state employee in Minnesota who caused over $20,000 in damages to Teslas – should get jail time. The George Soros-backed attorney general of the state wants to let the vandal walk. Yes, lots of Americans didn't like what happened to Musk or Tesla and bought cars in rightful protests. 🫏 But expensive electric vehicles are tailor-made for the typical Democratic voter. Wealthy suburban, or urban, dwellers with office jobs or soccer moms. Watch tonight : Marc Caputo, Axios White House correspondent, on whether Musk will split with Trump after his West Wing shouting match with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Can Musk's return save Tesla? Or is the damage already done? Tune into 'On Balance with Leland Vittert' weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
