Trump picks Johns Hopkins surgeon who argued against COVID lockdowns to lead FDA

President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns, to lead the US Food and Drug Administration.

“He will work under the direction of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, evaluate harmful chemicals that are poisoning our nation’s food supply, and drugs and biologics that are given to our nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the chronic childhood disease Epidemic,” Trump said in his announcement.

If confirmed by the Senate, Makary’s job would be to oversee the FDA’s $7 billion budget and report to the health secretary. The agency oversees $3.6 trillion in food, tobacco and medical products, including about 20,000 prescription drugs on the market.

Here are three things to know about Makary:

Makary is a respected transplant surgeon who questioned his colleagues’ recommendations about COVID

Makary was known during the pandemic as a seasoned medical expert willing to challenge his colleagues’ assumptions about COVID, though he was often criticized by his peers for cherry-picking data or leaving out context.

He appeared frequently on Fox News and wrote opinion pieces questioning the value of lockdowns and masks for children. He supported the use of vaccines but opposed mandates and doubted the utility of boosters, contradicting full-throated recommendations on boosters from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among his views was that the US government underestimated the number of people likely to be immune to the virus. In early 2021, he predicted that much of the country would reach “herd immunity” by April, dramatically reducing the risk of the virus.

However, that assumption did not happen.

As restrictions eased and a new strain emerged, virus-related deaths rose from about 4,000 a week to about 15,000 a week in September, making 2021 a deadlier year than when the pandemic began.

Makary stood by his claim that “natural immunity” was still being underestimated by the US government.

“One reason public health officials may be afraid to acknowledge the effectiveness of natural immunity is that they fear it will lead some to choose to get the infection over vaccination. That’s a legitimate concern. But we can encourage all Americans to get vaccinated while still being honest about the data,” he wrote in a separate opinion piece in The Washington Post.

He sounds a lot like RFK Jr. when he talks about the ‘poisoned’ food supply, pesticides and ultra-processed foods.

After the pandemic, Makary began to return to his original focus on railing against an overpriced health care system. He has long argued that the system is broken, overcharging patients and running unnecessary tests.

He also began speaking more critically about the US food system, echoing a message that Trump’s choice for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We have a poisoned food supply. We have pesticides. We have ultra-processed foods and all sorts of things that have been in the blind spots of modern medicine,” Makary told Fox News in September.

Kennedy would also require Senate confirmation to get the job.

In a later interview, Makary praised Trump’s decision to pick Kennedy.

“He wants to address corruption in health care and corruption in our public health agencies,” he said.

He warns against ‘sedating our nation’s children.’

It’s not clear exactly what Makary would do if confirmed as FDA commissioner, as much of his work would likely be directed by Trump and the incoming health secretary, possibly Kennedy.

But Makary has previously proposed an overhaul of the FDA’s “erratic” bureaucracy, which he says was too eager to approve opioids and too cautious when it came to other drugs like the antiviral COVID pill Molnupiravir.

“For too long, FDA leaders have acted like a crusty librarian who gets annoyed when someone wants to borrow a book. But then give preference to people they like,” Makary wrote in a 2021 Fox News opinion piece.

Recently he has been invited to one ban on mobile phones in schoolsand praised Kennedy for questioning the use of anti-anxiety and anti-obesity drugs in children.

“What he’s really focusing on is this concept that we can’t keep numbing our nation’s children,” Makary said of Kennedy.

When asked if Kennedy can accomplish what he wants in four years, Makary told Fox News that he will try to bring in more scientists and let “them do good work.”

Kennedy “is really the quintessential environmental health advocate of our era, and it may be the quintessential issue of our era,” Makary said.