Bhattacharya: COVID plexiglass barriers and restaurant masking lacked scientific backing
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya · Taking Bold Bets: NIH and the Future of Biomedical Science · Sep 23, 2025 · at 39:17
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH Director under the Trump administration, discusses how unproven public health interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic severely damaged public trust in science.
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“You remember the plexiglass that was everywhere? There's still, every time there's see a plexiglass, it makes me, fills me with rage, but that's another story. And there was no science behind that, right? There was the, there was like the, you wear a mask when you walk into a restaurant, and you take it off when you sit down. You know, you, again, no science behind it.”
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