Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on COVID-19 Seroprevalence, Natural Immunity, and the Great Barrington Declaration (Originally Aired July 20, 2023)

This episode originally aired on July 20, 2023, the same day Stanford University President Tessier-Levine was forced to resign. Dr. Jay offers detailed commentary on the hostile work environment at Stanford and how government, big tech, and academia conspired to suppress scientific voices.

Episode Description

In this wide-ranging conversation, Joe Grogan and Eric Ueland sit down with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to discuss his groundbreaking work on COVID-19 seroprevalence studies, the suppression of natural immunity data, and the origins of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Dr. Bhattacharya shares his immigrant family story and early recognition that COVID-19 was far more widespread than official counts indicated. He conducted one of the first seroprevalence studies in April 2020 in Santa Clara and Los Angeles Counties, using antibody test kits provided by Major League Baseball, and found that the disease was 40 to 50 times more common than reported cases.

The episode covers the intense backlash Dr. Bhattacharya faced for publishing these findings, including death threats, racist attacks, and institutional pressure from Stanford to suppress the research. He discusses how public health authorities suppressed evidence of natural immunity, the unethical decision-making by officials like Tony Fauci and Debbie Birx, and the formation of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Dr. Bhattacharya details the coordinated campaign against him, censorship on social media, including Twitter blacklisting, federal government threats to ensure censorship, and the terrible price paid that will echo through generations. He reflects on the failures of scientific institutions and the reforms needed to restore public trust in science.

Key Timestamps

4:27 Background: born in India, immigrant family, father was a rocket scientist

14:07 COVID enters consciousness: late December 2019, early January 2020

16:47 Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for seroprevalence studies

19:06 Major League Baseball provides 10,000 antibody test kits

20:30 Study results: 3 percent of Santa Clara had COVID by April 2020

26:12 Death threats, racist attacks, and pressure from Stanford

34:51 Evidence of natural immunity being suppressed by Fauci and Birx

39:52 Genesis of Great Barrington Declaration, October 2020

50:10 Hostile work environment at Stanford and Tessier-Levine impact

56:44 FOIA requests revealing government targeting

1:00:16 Twitter blocklist discovery and Elon Musk's Twitter Files

1:05:00 Reform is needed in the scientific community to restore public trust

About the Guest (at time of recording, July 2023)

Dr. Jayanta Jay Bhattacharya is a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University's School of Medicine and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He holds an MD and a PhD in Economics from Stanford. Born in Kolkata, India, he immigrated to the US at age four. His research focuses on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and is the author of a leading textbook on health economics. Dr. Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration and is a co-founder of the Academy of Science and Freedom.

Dr. Jay's Current Role (June 2026)

Since this episode was recorded in July 2023, Dr. Bhattacharya has assumed significant leadership roles in the federal government. He is the 18th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), confirmed March 25, 2025, and took office April 1, 2025. As of February 18, 2026, he also serves as Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bringing his emphasis on scientific integrity and evidence-based policy to these critical positions.

Podcast: DC EKG with Joe Grogan

Guest: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

Host: Joe Grogan and Eric Ueland

Sponsor: Survivors for Solutions

Executive Producer: John CZ