Trump Plans to Name Marty Makary as FDA Chief
During the Covid pandemic, Makary became known as a critic of the FDA.
TroibNews 
President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Marty Makary, a surgeon from Johns Hopkins renowned for his criticism of the Biden administration's Covid response, to lead the FDA.
“FDA has lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator,” Trump remarked in a statement late Friday, emphasizing that Makary would help “course-correct” the agency if his confirmation is successful.
“He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic,” Trump added.
Makary became a prominent critic of the FDA during the Covid pandemic, initially expressing concerns about the agency's prolonged review of data prior to its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He later criticized the agency for not adapting its recommendations for children, especially considering the risk of a rare heart condition associated with the vaccine in young males.
His claims that the FDA delayed the rollout of the initial Covid vaccines to undermine then-President Trump sparked significant backlash from agency officials. Now, four years later, Makary stands to potentially gain recognition for his strong support of the president-elect’s pandemic management, being a Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon who also advised the first Trump administration.
While Makary's past may not align with all Senate Democrats, his appointment may alleviate concerns regarding an anti-vaccine sentiment within the agency responsible for assessing these products for the American public. He has pushed for federal authorities to create more tailored recommendations for Covid vaccines, advocating for a focus on older individuals and those with health risks, and even suggested a single-dose regimen for healthy children.
“I’m pro-vaccine. But the issue of the appropriate clinical indication of the [Covid] vaccine is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, as we frequently see in American culture and politics,” he stated in an August 2021 op-ed for U.S. News & World Report.
His critical stance towards federal health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, likely appealed to Trump’s team. A senior Republican member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees the confirmation process for the FDA head, praised Makary prior to the official announcement.
“Great guy, impeccable credentials, academia, patient medicine and also a real believer in patient freedom,” said Sen. Rand Paul, known for his own criticisms of Fauci.
Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as Trump’s surgeon general in his first term, expressed that while he doesn’t know Makary personally, he finds him a reasonable choice and believes he’s the least surprising of the health picks thus far.
Chris Meekins, who worked at HHS during Trump’s first term and is now a health policy research analyst at Raymond James, noted that Makary’s positions “may create more upheaval” in the FDA’s food programs rather than in its drug divisions.
“Dr. Makary will likely be a more welcome pick for industry and investors compared to some of the other names being floated, but he will not be as well received as” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s first FDA commissioner, he remarked.
Makary’s recently published book may have helped him gain favor with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team. The book examines how modern medicine has, at times, misjudged scientific understanding, highlighting past mistakes such as the assertion that opioids are not addictive and warnings against naturally fatty foods.
On "Fox News Sunday" on Nov. 17, Makary defended Kennedy, Trump’s nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services, stating that Kennedy now “very clearly he’s not anti-vax.”
“What is scary and dangerous to health is not RFK Jr. — it’s what people just witnessed,” Makary asserted, referencing the early years of the opioid crisis and the medical community’s disregard for the effects of “natural immunity” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Makary contributed $1,000 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and donated $3,000 to then-Rep. Frank Wolf’s campaign between 2004 and 2006.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
“FDA has lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator,” Trump remarked in a statement late Friday, emphasizing that Makary would help “course-correct” the agency if his confirmation is successful.
“He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic,” Trump added.
Makary became a prominent critic of the FDA during the Covid pandemic, initially expressing concerns about the agency's prolonged review of data prior to its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He later criticized the agency for not adapting its recommendations for children, especially considering the risk of a rare heart condition associated with the vaccine in young males.
His claims that the FDA delayed the rollout of the initial Covid vaccines to undermine then-President Trump sparked significant backlash from agency officials. Now, four years later, Makary stands to potentially gain recognition for his strong support of the president-elect’s pandemic management, being a Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon who also advised the first Trump administration.
While Makary's past may not align with all Senate Democrats, his appointment may alleviate concerns regarding an anti-vaccine sentiment within the agency responsible for assessing these products for the American public. He has pushed for federal authorities to create more tailored recommendations for Covid vaccines, advocating for a focus on older individuals and those with health risks, and even suggested a single-dose regimen for healthy children.
“I’m pro-vaccine. But the issue of the appropriate clinical indication of the [Covid] vaccine is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, as we frequently see in American culture and politics,” he stated in an August 2021 op-ed for U.S. News & World Report.
His critical stance towards federal health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, likely appealed to Trump’s team. A senior Republican member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees the confirmation process for the FDA head, praised Makary prior to the official announcement.
“Great guy, impeccable credentials, academia, patient medicine and also a real believer in patient freedom,” said Sen. Rand Paul, known for his own criticisms of Fauci.
Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as Trump’s surgeon general in his first term, expressed that while he doesn’t know Makary personally, he finds him a reasonable choice and believes he’s the least surprising of the health picks thus far.
Chris Meekins, who worked at HHS during Trump’s first term and is now a health policy research analyst at Raymond James, noted that Makary’s positions “may create more upheaval” in the FDA’s food programs rather than in its drug divisions.
“Dr. Makary will likely be a more welcome pick for industry and investors compared to some of the other names being floated, but he will not be as well received as” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s first FDA commissioner, he remarked.
Makary’s recently published book may have helped him gain favor with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team. The book examines how modern medicine has, at times, misjudged scientific understanding, highlighting past mistakes such as the assertion that opioids are not addictive and warnings against naturally fatty foods.
On "Fox News Sunday" on Nov. 17, Makary defended Kennedy, Trump’s nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services, stating that Kennedy now “very clearly he’s not anti-vax.”
“What is scary and dangerous to health is not RFK Jr. — it’s what people just witnessed,” Makary asserted, referencing the early years of the opioid crisis and the medical community’s disregard for the effects of “natural immunity” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Makary contributed $1,000 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and donated $3,000 to then-Rep. Frank Wolf’s campaign between 2004 and 2006.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
