President-elect Donald Trump on Friday nominated Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins pancreatic surgeon who has made controversial comments about the coronavirus, to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to reports, Makari is the director of islet transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins University. University website. He has also served in leadership roles in the World Health Organization’s Patient Safety Program and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He has also served as public advisor Paragon Health Institute is a conservative health care think tank and appears regularly on Fox News.
“The FDA has lost the trust of Americans and lost sight of its primary goals as a regulatory agency. The agency needs Dr. Marty Makary, a respected Johns Hopkins surgical oncologist and health policy expert, to correct the agency’s course. and refocus its focus,” Trump said on “Truth Society”.
“He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to, among other things, properly assess the harmful chemicals poisoning our nation’s food supply and the drugs and biologics provided to our nation’s young people so that we can ultimately address childhood chronic diseases. Problem epidemic,” Trump said.
The position requires Senate confirmation. As FDA commissioner, Macari will be responsible for regulating drugs, foods, medical devices and other products such as tobacco and cosmetics.
Macari has made some controversial statements in the past, notably About the pandemic. He said the federal government was the “biggest perpetrator” of misinformation during the pandemic.
he is a Supporters of natural immunitysaying it is “at least” as effective or even better than the immunity provided by the vaccine, while ignoring the risk of infection. He also defended the country Herd immunity will be reached in April 2021.
He claimed that myocarditis is a rare heart disease that is more common after being vaccinated against COVID-19 than after being infected with COVID-19. has been debunked by multiple studies.
In 2023, he also wrote an article Op-ed in The Wall Street Journal Criticism of the Biden administration’s decision to recommend coronavirus vaccine booster doses to younger patients who are at lower risk. The idea that young, healthy people do not need additional COVID vaccines is now widely accepted by the medical community.
If nominated and confirmed, Macari would likely serve under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump has Elected Secretary of Health and Human Services. FDA is one of 13 agencies under the jurisdiction of HHS.
Kennedy’s choice was heavily criticized by the medical and scientific communities given his controversial views on public health issues, including anti-vaccination activism.
Macari defended Kennedy on Fox News on Sunday, saying he was the least “terrible” thing to happen to the U.S. health care system and that people shouldn’t “dissect” what Kennedy said “30 years ago.”
“He wants to address corruption in health care and corruption in our government health agencies,” Makari said. “A lot of people don’t like the message, a lot of people are threatened by it.”
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Macari was not qualified for the role of FDA commissioner given his past comments about the coronavirus and his defense of Kennedy.
“He was willing to lie to the American public,” Offit said. “Why do we think this person should lead the FDA?”
The current FDA commissioner is cardiologist Dr. Robert Califf, who also held the position during President Barack Obama’s second term.
Trump had two FDA commissioners during his first term: physician Dr. Scott Gottlieb and oncologist Dr. Stephen Hahn.
