The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Stanford University professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration, two vocal critics of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhattacharya was confirmed by a party-line 53-47 vote and Makary was approved by a 56-44 vote, with three Democrats — Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Margaret Wood Hassan and Jeannie Shaheen of New Hampshire — joining the Republican majority.

Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, a scathing critique of the pandemic response and “the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.”

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