RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg With Latest Round of Nominations by Donald Trump Hammering Home the GOP’s War on America’s Health Care
Over the last several weeks, Donald Trump has made selections for key health care leadership positions by nominating Marty Makary for FDA Commissioner, Dave Weldon for CDC Director, Janette Nesheiwat for Surgeon General, Jay Bhattacharya for NIH Director, and Jim O’Neill for Deputy Secretary for HHS. In response to these disastrous picks, Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:
“While Donald Trump’s celebrity health care nominees are making headlines, the lesser-known but just as rotten nominees might be flying under the radar. Beyond the notorious conspiracy theorists RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz, these anti-science health care nominations have the potential to completely unravel our health care system and cost people their lives. These nominations indicate that Trump is all in on his mission to cut critical public health programs, undermine research for diseases, and throw the health care system into chaos.”
Marty Makary
for Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner
Marty Makary Supports RFK Jr.’s Bogus Science Claims and Has Plans To Overhaul The FDA. Makary called for a complete overhaul of the FDA’s leadership and culture, echoing RFK’s plans for the Department of Health and Human Services. He has also backed the new Department of Government Efficiency’s criticism of work from home policies for some government positions. If confirmed by the Senate, Makary will be responsible for the agency that approves annual cold and flu vaccinations, continuously evaluating safety concerns for ongoing drug therapies, and food safety that has been a popular target by RFK. Markary worked with Trump health officials during his first term where he advised on medical price transparency laws and has formed a relationship with RFK praising his plans for challenging long-held food and health care standards that he blames for contributing to chronic disease. In a Fox News interview, he said, “The food supply is poisoned and kids are growing up in a toxic environment. And we are drugging kids at scale. As the American Academy of Pediatrics is pushing Ozempic on 6 year olds.”
Abortion Will Be At Risk With Marty Makary’s Power Over Approval Of Abortion Drugs. During a Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, Makary falsely stated that fetuses can feel pain between 15 to 20 weeks and actively resist abortions from being performed. This is a gross example of misinformation. While it is contentious when fetuses can feel pain, it is largely accepted that the development of brain structures that allow pain to be felt are not developed until the third trimester. The FDA is tasked with regulating Mifepristone, an abortion drug that the right is attempting to restrict.
Marty Makary Critiqued The COVID-19 Pandemic Response. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Makary spoke against many pandemic responses saying they went too far. In a 2021 Wall Street Journal op-ed, he said the CDC’s school masking mandate was “abusive.” He also criticized the government officials for being too quick to dismiss alternative methods to combatting the pandemic, specifically natural immunity by letting people get infected with the virus. Makary also condemned the FDA’s recommendation of boosters for young people due to the higher risk of myocarditis seen in young people. However, cases of myocarditis due to COVID-19 vaccinations are rare. Makary also criticized the agency for bypassing advisory committee approval for vaccine boosters for children aged 12 to 15. Simultaneously, he faulted the FDA for not approving a vaccine sooner and called for early access to be made available for the antiviral drug molnupiravir before receiving full authorization.
Dave Weldon
for Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Director
The CDC “Is In Big Trouble” With RFK Jr.-Aligned Former Republican Congressman David Weldon In Charge. Weldon is a former GOP member of Congress from Florida; he spent nearly 15 years in Congress from 1995 to 2009, and served as a member of the hard-right Republican Study Committee. One reporter wrote that the CDC “is in big trouble” with Weldon in charge, and Trump’s nomination announcement proudly proclaimed, “Dave will proudly restore the CDC to its true purpose, and will work to end the Chronic Disease Epidemic.” Not only does Weldon share many of Kennedy’s anti-choice and anti-vaccine beliefs, but Kennedy has also cited Weldon’s advocacy work in his own arguments against the CDC, reportedly referring to the agency as a “subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry.” A prominent anti-vaccine advocate who worked closely with Kennedy during his 2024 presidential campaign publicly applauded Weldon’s appointment.
Weldon Supports Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories Just Like RFK Jr. and Has Big Plans To Revamp Vaccine Recommendations – With Far-Reaching Consequences For Hundreds of Millions of Americans. Ever since Trump nominated Weldon, health experts have raised alarms about him being a “persistent skeptic” of vaccines. Most notably, Weldon has argued time and again that there are links between vaccines and autism. When confronted with evidence to the contrary, Weldon stated that it was “based on preliminary incomplete information, and may ultimately be repudiated.” He has also implied that there might be “some underlying trait” in certain children that could be activated through vaccination – a completely baseless claim. Weldon has expressed interest in completely revamping vaccine safety review and recommendation protocols, and he has repeatedly voiced “serious reservations about the independence of the federal government’s vaccine safety review process,” as far back as 2007. The CDC director has the power to veto the process of recommending vaccines, which is usually guided by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Weldon’s nomination could have huge consequences for hundreds of millions of Americans; under the Affordable Care Act, health insurers are required to cover all vaccines recommended by ACIP for free, and the Inflation Reduction Act expanded the slate of free vaccines to people on Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP.
Weldon Is An Anti-Choice Extremist Who Spearheaded A Key Amendment Used By The First Trump Administration To Withhold Federal Funding From California Over Abortion Care. While serving in Congress, Weldon worked tirelessly on anti-choice efforts. He introduced protections for health care workers and organizations refusing to provide abortions to patients, codified as the Weldon Amendment – which has subsequently been attached to every HHS spending bill in Congress since 2005. The Guttmacher Institute found that the Weldon Amendment “emboldens health insurance plans, health care institutions and medical providers to deny abortion services and coverage … often under the rubric of protecting ‘conscience’ or ‘religious freedom.’” In 2020, the Trump administration even used the Amendment to withhold $200 million in federal Medicaid funds from California, alleging that state-mandated abortion coverage violated the Amendment. Weldon worked to ban late-term abortions and permanently ban patenting human embryos as well. During a 2012 debate, Weldon also argued that abortion access infringes on religious freedoms.
Janette Nesheiwat
for Surgeon General
Right-Wing Personality Janette Nesheiwat Has Close MAGA Ties. Nesheiwat, a former Fox News personality who spent at least five years with the network, has close MAGA ties to Trump’s orbit, regularly posting pictures on social media featuring the president-elect. Her sister Julia served as homeland security advisor during the first Trump administration and held senior positions in the Bush administration. Julia’s husband – Janette’s brother-in-law – is Florida Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who Trump recently nominated to be National Security Advisor.
Nesheiwat Has A Record of Spreading Anti-Trans Rhetoric. As a Fox News personality, Nesheiwat has spent years pushing back against trans health care, in one instance calling a recommendation made by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ that transgender Americans receive gender-affirming care “unethical.” She has also attacked trans athletes on social media, posting on X, “This calls into question the character of the trans athlete who knows they have a significant biophysical advantage. Instead of pushing to compete with a fraudulent advantage, fight for fair creation of a division for trans athletes. Otherwise you destroy the sanctity of sport.” She also criticized the Biden administration for focusing “on transgender affirming care rather than active disease outbreaks with looming drug resistance.”
Unlike RFK Jr., Nesheiwat Is Generally Pro-Vaccine, But Has Clashed With CDC Guidance. In a clash with Trump’s nominee for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Nesheiwat has been an advocate for vaccines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As a family medicine physician and one of five Medical Directors with CityMD, she treated many patients with COVID-19 and called the vaccine “our path out of the pandemic,” and “nothing short of miraculous.” She has also advocated for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. She called for mask mandates in schools in August 2021. Earlier this year, however, Nesheiwat criticized the CDC’s guidance about COVID-19 vaccines, reportedly declaring that the vaccine’s risks outweigh the benefits for young people.
Nesheiwat Is A Grifter Just Like Trump and Dr. Oz. Just like Dr. Oz, who has spent decades grifting off of pseudoscience and promoting do-nothing supplements as a TV doctor, Nesheiwat uses her platform to promote dietary supplements she formulates and sells online. In 2022, she reportedly launched a supplement product called B-C Boost, claiming it “help[s] strengthen and boost your immunity.” She also wrote a book about “miracles in medicine.”
Jay Bhattacharya
for National Institutes of Health Director
Bhattachara Rose To Prominence As A COVID-19 Skeptic. Bhattacharya made a name for himself during the COVID-19 pandemic as a leading skeptic of public health efforts. In October 2020, he called on various state and local governments to “roll back” COVID-19 lockdown protocols. He also penned numerous articles downplaying the deadly virus. He co-authored a study saying that risks of COVID-19 were overstated, and wrote in a 2020 paper that scientific breakthroughs stagnated because scientists were wrongly focused on being cited by other researchers.
Bhattacharya Pushed for Major Shakeups In NIH. In the past, Bhattacharya has advocated for major shakeups of the health department and argued that top NIH officials hold too much influence within the agency. In 2018, he wrote in a working paper that NIH could “do more to promote innovative science,” saying that scientific and political considerations may have led to inadequate funds for exploration into new ideas.
Jim O’Neill
for Deputy Secretary of Health & Human Services
O’Neill Is A “Super Duper Pharma Friendly” Silicon Valley Shill With No Regard For Drug Efficacy. O’Neill, who has been described by journalists as “a super-duper Pharma friendly Deputy Secretary,” holds close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and served as a senior HHS official during the Bush administration. A Silicon Valley investor, O’Neill’s nomination was pushed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel and his MAGA Silicon Valley affiliates. O’Neill has been critical of the FDA, once reportedly calling for the agency to approve drugs based only on safety concerns and to later determine the drugs’ efficacy.