❓WHAT HAPPENED: Martin Kulldorff, a world-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist, was appointed to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, after previously being terminated from Harvard Medical School for refusing the COVID vaccine.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Martin Kulldorff, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Kulldorff’s appointment was announced last week, with the committee changes revealed by Kennedy on X.
💬KEY QUOTE: “They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
🎯IMPACT: Kulldorff’s appointment signals a shift toward evidence-based medicine and public trust restoration in vaccination policies.
World-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, who was fired from Harvard Medical School last year for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, has been appointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). Previously, the entire advisory committee’s membership had been dismissed.
Kulldorff, who cited infection-acquired immunity as the reason for declining the vaccine, lost his position at a Harvard-affiliated hospital during the early days of the COVID pandemic and was officially terminated as a faculty member in March 2024. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for sensible pandemic response measures and has garnered nearly one million signatures from scientists worldwide.
Announcing the new ACIP members, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described his selections as a “major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.” He stated, “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.”
In 2021, Kulldorff posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should.” He added, “COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers. Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.”
Kulldorff has been critical of Harvard’s handling of the pandemic, writing in City Journal last year that the institution had abandoned open debate and medical freedom. He wrote, “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.”
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