Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), stressed that medical and scientific advancement is made possible by the protection of free speech.
Bhattacharya condemned pandemic censorship and discussed the vital importance of free speech among scientists during an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier that aired on the May 8 edition of his show Special Report. “One of the main problems during the pandemic was censorship. Free speech is absolutely essential for scientific progress. If we had had [free speech] during the pandemic, we would have had much better outcomes,” he said. Bhattacharya added that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s vision for “gold standard science” is dependent on free speech, ending long-standing scientific “taboos” around topics like autism research.
