Martin Kulldorff, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, has been appointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, despite his controversial views on vaccines and the circumstances surrounding his dismissal from Harvard.
Kulldorff was dismissed from his position at Harvard, where he held a faculty role and worked as an epidemiologist at Mass General Brigham, after he publicly and privately objected to Covid-19 vaccine mandates during the pandemic.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Kulldorff’s appointment as part of a re-staffing initiative, where he replaced roughly half of the committee’s members who were let go under contentious circumstances.
In November 2021, Kulldorff was placed on a leave of absence, a decision he attributed to his opposition to vaccination requirements.
Alongside fellow researchers, Kulldorff co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020.
This memorandum criticized lockdown policies implemented before a vaccine was available, asserting that those measures would lead to significant societal harm, particularly affecting underprivileged populations.
His co-authors included Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta and Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya, who is currently the director of the National Institutes of Health.
The Great Barrington Declaration advocated for the reopening of workplaces and schools to achieve herd immunity, a concept that suggests sufficient immunity among a population can prevent a virus from spreading.
However, the document faced extensive criticism from the scientific community, with many experts stating that true herd immunity could only be accomplished through widespread vaccination, and that relaxing vaccine mandates and lockdowns could lead to increased fatalities.
In 2021, Kulldorff also expressed his views on social media, arguing against the notion that mandatory vaccinations are necessary, claiming such an approach is as flawed as an outright refusal of vaccines.
His personal objections to vaccination stem from concerns regarding his health and the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine for individuals with his genetic immune deficiency.
Kulldorff argued that his previous Covid-19 infection provided him with sufficient immunity, a claim seen as controversial and backed by studies that have been widely challenged.
Despite promises from Kennedy to avoid appointing individuals who are ideological anti-vaxxers, Kulldorff and several other appointees have faced backlash for their history of questioning vaccine efficacy and mandates.
Kennedy’s recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggested that this committee re-staffing would rebuild public trust in immunizations.
However, the firings of the previous committee members ignited a fierce debate about potential conflicts of interest, following Kennedy’s claim that the ousted members had financial ties to vaccine-producing pharmaceutical companies.
Those familiar with the committee’s operations noted that strict measures are already in place regarding conflicts of interest among its members, who are required to disclose any connections to vaccine manufacturers.
If a conflict exists, members must recuse themselves from votes related to those issues.
Kulldorff has a history of serving in advisory capacities at both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration.
At present, he is a fellow at the Academy for Science and Freedom, affiliated with Hillsdale College, a conservative institution.
Moreover, records indicate that Kulldorff has earned substantial sums serving as an expert witness in legal actions against vaccine manufacturers, notably in relation to Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, designed to protect against human papillomavirus, a significant cause of cervical cancer.
Despite repeated attempts, Kulldorff has not commented on his recent appointment to the CDC.
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