Harvard Medical Professor Fired for Opposing COVID Lockdowns and Vaccine Mandates
- by Amber Baker
- Published
- Cultural Values
Epidemiologist, biostatistician, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School Martin Kulldorff, MD announced on social media last week that Harvard fired him for opposing COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates. “I am no longer a professor of medicine at Harvard,” Dr. Kulldorff wrote in a published essay in the City Journal titled Harvard Tramples the Truth.
Kulforff also shared the news on his X account. “The Harvard motto is Veritas, which is Latin for truth. But, as I discovered, truth can get you fired,” he wrote.1 “This is my story—a story of a Harvard biostatistician and infectious disease epidemiologist, clinging to the truth as the world lost its way during the COVID pandemic,” the essay begins.
Kulldorff was terminated by the Harvard-affiliated Mass General Brigham hospital system and put on a leave of absence by Harvard Medical School back in November 2021 over his stance on COVID. Almost two years later, his leave of absence was terminated as a matter of policy in October 2023, officially ending his tenure at the university.
Michael Levitt, PhD, a Stanford University professor of biophysics, shared on X in response to the news:
Taking revenge on a brave scientist who spoke truth is a disgrace to academia. This level of institutional stupidity is an existential threat to the USA.2 3
Great Barrington Declaration Accurately Predicted Underprivileged Disproportionately Harmed by Lockdowns
The “Great Barrington Declaration,” written by Kulldorff along with epidemiologists Jay Bhattacharya, MD of Stanford and Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University, warned against lockdowns in real time. “Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed” the declaration reads. “Children faced minuscule risk from COVID, and interrupting their education would disadvantage them for life, especially those whose families could not afford private schools, pod schools, or tutors, or to homeschool.”4
They weren’t wrong. Experts are still reeling from the growing body of evidence that proves lockdowns and other COVID measures caused irreparable developmental damage spanning multiple age groups. Among the findings, American students’ test scores have plunged to unseen levels with fourth and eighth graders losing two decades in math and reading, according to national assessments.5
Reflecting on the scathing criticism against him and other professors for refusing to say that lockdown measures were a science-based measure, Kulldorff said:
The declaration made clear that no scientific consensus existed for school closures and many other lockdown measures. In response, though, the attacks intensified—and even grew slanderous. Almost everyone now realizes that school closures and other lockdowns were a colossal mistake. Francis Collins has acknowledged his error of singularly focusing on COVID without considering collateral damage to education and non-COVID health outcomes. That’s the honest thing to do, and I hope this honesty will reach Harvard. The public deserves it, and academia needs it to restore its credibility.1
“Vaccine Mandates are Religious Dogma”
In Kulldorff’s published essay sharing his unjust termination from Harvard, he also explains that, like countless other Americans who tried to exercise their constitutional right to religious freedom during the rollout of the novel mRNA shot, his religious exemption was denied by the university. He said:
While several vaccine exemptions were given by the hospital, my medical exemption request was denied. I was less surprised that my religious exemption request was denied. Having had COVID disease, I have stronger longer lasting immunity than those vaccinated (Gazit et al). Lacking scientific rationale, vaccine mandates are religious dogma, and I request a religious exemption from COVID vaccination.1
What is Science if We Do Not Humbly Pursue the Truth
Kulldorff shared that while most of Harvard’s faculty still “diligently pursue truth in a wide variety of fields,” truth has “not been the guiding principle of Harvard leaders. “Nor have academic freedom, intellectual curiosity, independence from external forces, or concern for ordinary people guided their decisions,” he said. “At this point, it was clear that I faced a choice between science or my academic career. I chose the former.”
“What is science if we do not humbly pursue the truth?” Kulldorff asked.1
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