Fired Harvard Epidemiologist Named to CDC Vaccine Panel
World-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff — who was fired from Harvard Medical School last year after refusing the COVID vaccine — just got a new gig.
Kulldorff has been named a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.
Kulldorff, who had refused the COVID vaccine because of his infection-acquired immunity, lost his appointment at a Harvard-affiliated hospital in the early days of the COVID era, and in March of 2024 was officially terminated as a med school faculty member.
Since the COVID lockdowns began five years ago this month, Kulldorff argued that tactics such as social distancing, masking children, vaccines after infections, and other extreme measures were not the best course of action to fight the virus.
He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for sensible tactics that would allow the globe to reach 'herd immunity' and has been signed by nearly 1 million scientists worldwide.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in announcing the new members of the panel last week on X, wrote that his selections signify a 'major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.'
Kennedy wrote he retired the 17 current members of the committee and is repopulating ACIP with eight new members 'committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.'
'They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well,' Kennedy stated.
MassLive reported that in 2021, 'Kulldorff posted on X that 'thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should.''
'COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers,' he wrote. 'Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.'
According to the New York Times , after Kennedy's announcement, some infectious disease and vaccine experts accused the health secretary of going back on his pledge not to pick so-called anti-vaxxers.
'When Mr. Kennedy fired the entire committee, known as the A.C.I.P., he cited financial conflicts of interest and said a clean sweep was necessary to restore public trust in vaccination,' the Times reported.
As for Harvard's role in the controversy, writing in City Journal last year, Kulldorff argued that Harvard turned its back on him, open debate, and medical freedom.
'The beauty of our immune system is that those who recover from an infection are protected if and when they are re-exposed. This has been known since the Athenian Plague of 430 BC—but it is no longer known at Harvard,' he wrote.
'Three prominent Harvard faculty coauthored the now infamous 'consensus' memorandum in The Lancet, questioning the existence of Covid-acquired immunity. By continuing to mandate the vaccine for students with a prior Covid infection, Harvard is de facto denying 2,500 years of science.'
Kennedy, in announcing Kulldorff, noted he is a biostatistician and 'a leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance.'
'… Dr. Kulldorff developed widely used tools such as SaTScan and TreeScan for detecting disease outbreaks and vaccine adverse events. His expertise includes statistical methods for public health surveillance, immunization safety, and infectious disease epidemiology. He has also been an influential voice in public health policy, advocating for evidence-based approaches to pandemic response.'
Also read: Early COVID-19 Vaccine Patent In China Raises New Questions For U.S. Investigators
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