Washington (AP) Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon and author who earned national recognition for opposing vaccine mandates and other public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, was named by President-elect Donald Trump on Friday to head the Food and Drug Administration.
The most recent of several Trump nominees to proclaim the U.S. health system broken and promise reform is Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Trump also appointed Florida physician and former Republican Representative Dave Weldon to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of a rush of nominees late Friday night. Meanwhile, Janette Nesheiwat, a contributor to Fox News, is expected to become the country’s next surgeon general.
Some of Makary’s opinions are quite similar to those of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the well-known environmental attorney and anti-vaccine activist who Trump nominated to be the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is Makary’s boss.
Makary has written books and articles criticizing the overprescription of medications, the use of pesticides on food, and the excessive power of insurance and pharmaceutical firms over physicians and government regulators—issues Kennedy has also repeatedly brought up for years.
In order to ensure that Americans receive the medical cures and treatments they are entitled to, Trump claimed that Makary, a surgeon and cancer specialist by training, will bring the FDA back to the pinnacle of scientific research and eliminate the bureaucratic red tape at the organization.
The FDA’s 18,000 personnel, who have their headquarters in the Maryland suburbs outside of Washington, are in charge of ensuring the efficacy and safety of prescription medications, vaccines, and medical devices in addition to a wide range of other consumer goods like food, cosmetics, and vaping supplies. Together, those goods are thought to account for $2.6 trillion, or 20% of annual U.S. consumer spending.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, Makary became well-known on Fox News and other conservative channels for his unconventional opinions. Although he was not against the COVID-19 vaccine, he had reservations about booster shots for young children and questioned the necessity of masking. He belonged to an outspoken group of doctors that advocated for a stronger focus on herd immunity—the theory that widespread illnesses would swiftly result in population-level protection—to halt the virus.
According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 vaccines saved over 686,000 lives in the United States in 2020 and 2021 alone. Medical organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics came to the conclusion that immunizations greatly decreased serious sickness in the age range, even though children had far lower rates of hospitalization and virus-related deaths.
Makary has bemoaned the way pharmaceutical companies pushed physicians to prescribe OxyContin and other opioids as safe, non-addictive painkillers by using false statistics. FDA-approved labeling from the 1990s allowed for that marketing, implying that the medications were safe for common conditions like back pain.
The FDA has faced criticism in recent years for authorizing medications for ALS, Alzheimer’s, and other illnesses based on insufficient data that did not demonstrate significant patient benefits.
The FDA, which has prioritized quicker medication approvals for decades, would undergo a significant turnaround if it were to press for increased inspection of drug safety and efficacy. Industry lobbying and fees paid by pharmaceutical companies to assist the FDA in hiring more reviewers have contributed to this trend.
Kennedy has suggested stopping the payments, which would necessitate additional federal money in the billions.
Similar obstacles are anticipated to be encountered by other government goals. Kennedy, for example, wants to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from running advertisements on television, a multibillion-dollar industry that provides funding for numerous cable and TV networks. Experts point out that such a prohibition would probably be overturned by the Supreme Court and other conservative justices on First Amendment grounds that safeguard commercial speech.
The Atlanta-based CDC, which creates vaccines and keeps an eye out for infectious disease outbreaks, is Trump’s choice, but little is known about it.
Weldon is a fervent Republican who considers himself to be pro-life. More than two decades ago, he introduced legislation that made human cloning illegal. Additionally, he negotiated with legislators to outlaw patents on human beings, including embryos that have undergone genetic engineering. Weldon also opposed taking down Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. Schiavo was a Florida woman whose family’s dispute over her vegetative state became a national controversy.
Trump’s choice of Kennedy, a veteran Democrat and abortion rights advocate, as the country’s top health official has alarmed some anti-abortion activists, who are likely to be appeased by Weldon’s nomination.
After serving in public office for 14 years, Weldon withdrew from his congressional seat in 2008. He lost a GOP primary earlier this year for a Florida legislative seat.
He will oversee over 13,000 employees and around 13,000 additional contract workers if he is confirmed.
Meanwhile, if the Republican-controlled Senate accepts Nesheiwat’s nomination as surgeon general, she will be in charge of 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Corps. She works as the medical director for a New York-based urgent care center. She frequently supports Trump, as seen by her many appearances on Fox News and her social media posts including pictures of the two of them together.
In addition, surgeons general have the authority to warn of hazards to public health in the United States through advisories. These recommendations have the power to affect how the nation’s medical community, government, and citizens react to health emergencies.
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