Ex-Harvard professor fired after refusing COVID shot named to CDC vaccine panel
A former Harvard University professor who said he was fired over his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has been named to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel on vaccines.
Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist, published an opinion piece last year detailing how he was let go by Mass General Brigham, and then consequently from his Harvard faculty position, after he 'objected both publicly and privately to the COVID vaccine mandates.'
Kulldorff is among eight new members named by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, after Kennedy this week abruptly purged all 17 members appointed during the Biden administration.
Kennedy characterized the decision to start over with new members as one that would restore public trust in vaccines. The new appointees include individuals who have criticized vaccines and spread misinformation, according to the Associated Press.
'Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,' he wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday. 'A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.'
Read more: Mass. doctor ousted by RFK Jr. as part of purge to CDC vaccine advisory committee
Before he announced his new panel picks this week, Kennedy said he would appoint credentialed scientists, 'not anti-vaxxers.' Doctors' groups and public health organizations have largely decried the move to oust 17 members ahead of their term ends.
The list of all eight new appointees can be found here.
Kulldorff co-authored the controversial Great Barrington Declaration in 2020, an open letter penned with two other public health experts in response to the COVID pandemic that advocated for lifting lockdowns for young and healthy people so heard immunity could develop.
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.'
The second Trump administration in its vaccine planning has mirrored Kulldorff's opinions: Last month, the FDA announced new COVID shots would no longer be approved for healthy pregnant adults and healthy children.
According to his biography, Kulldorff is currently a senior scholar at the Brownstone Institute and a fellow at the Academy for Science and Freedom. He has previously served on scientific advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration and CDC.
Kulldorff did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Read the original article on MassLive.
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