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{{Infobox scientist
| name = Martin Kulldorff
| image = Martin Kulldorff.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1962}}<ref name=umu/>
| birth_place = [[Lund]], Sweden<ref name=umu/>
| fields = {{Tree list}}
* [[Mathematical sciences]]
** [[Operations research]]
{{tree list/end}}
| workplaces = [[National Cancer Institute]]<br />[[University of Connecticut]]<br />[[Uppsala University]]<br />[[Harvard Medical School]]<br />[[Brigham and Women's Hospital]]
| alma_mater = [[Umeå University]] ([[BSc]])<br />[[Cornell University]] ([[PhD]])
| thesis_title = Optimal Control of Favorable Games with a Time Limit
| thesis_url = https://hdl.handle.net/1813/8709
| thesis_year = 1989
| doctoral_advisor = [[David Heath (probabilist)|David Clay Heath]]
| known_for = Creator of software [[SaTScan]], Co-author of [[Great Barrington Declaration]]
| father = [[Gunnar Kulldorff]]
| website =
}}
'''Martin Kulldorff''' (born 1962) is a Swedish [[biostatistician]]. He was a professor of medicine at [[Harvard Medical School]] from 2003 until his dismissal in 2024.<ref name="kulldorff-catalyst" /><ref name=fired/><ref name="DFHCC">{{cite web|url=https://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu/insider/member-detail/member/martin-kulldorff-phd/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519033510/https://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu/insider/member-detail/member/martin-kulldorff-phd/ |archive-date=May 19, 2022 |access-date=September 20, 2022 | title=Martin Kulldorff, PhD|website=Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center}}</ref> He is a member of the US [[Food and Drug Administration]]'s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee and a former member of the Vaccine Safety Subgroup of the [[Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices]] at the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]].<ref name="umu" /><ref name="Bloomberg-JnJ" />
== Early life and education ==▼
In 2020, Kulldorff was a co-author of the [[Great Barrington Declaration]], which advocated lifting [[COVID-19]] restrictions on lower-risk groups to develop [[herd immunity]] through infection before vaccines became available, while promoting the fringe notion that vulnerable people could be simultaneously protected from the virus.<ref name="gbdfringe"/><ref name="MedPage2">{{Cite web|last=D'Ambrosio|first=Amanda|date=October 19, 2020|title=Who Are the Scientists Behind the Great Barrington Declaration?|url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/89204|access-date=January 22, 2021|url-access=registration|website=www.medpagetoday.com|language=en}}</ref><ref name="wsj-touts" /><ref name="urg" /> The declaration was widely rejected, and was criticized as being unethical and infeasible by [[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus]], the director-general of the [[World Health Organization]].<ref name="Wapo-unethical">{{Cite news|last1=Farzan|first1=Antonia Noori|last2=Berger|first2=Miriam|title=Trying to reach herd immunity is 'unethical' and unprecedented, WHO head says|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/10/13/herd-immunity-coronavirus-unethical-who/|url-access=subscription|access-date=February 20, 2022|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
During the pandemic, Kulldorff opposed [[Public health mitigation of COVID-19|disease control measures]] such as vaccination of children, [[COVID-19 lockdowns|lockdowns]], [[contact tracing]], and [[mask mandate]]s.<ref name="MedPage2" /><ref name="MedPage-Brownstone">{{Cite web|last=D'Ambrosio|first=Amanda|date=November 11, 2021|title=New Institute Has Ties to the Great Barrington Declaration|url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/95601|access-date=November 27, 2021|url-access=registration|website=www.medpagetoday.com|language=en}}</ref><ref name="CBSLocal-DeSantis">{{Cite web|date=June 16, 2021|title=Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Pushes Through Pardons For Mask Mandate And COVID-19 Violators|url=https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/06/16/florida-gov-ron-desantis-pardons-mask-mandate-covid-19-violators/|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=CBS Miami|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=sbm2/>
▲== Early life and education ==
Kulldorff was born in [[Lund]], Sweden, in 1962, the son of Barbro and [[Gunnar Kulldorff]]. He grew up in [[Umeå]] and received a [[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] in [[mathematical statistics]] from [[Umeå University]] in 1984.<ref name=umu>{{cite web|last=Söderbergh|first=Ingrid|url=https://www.umu.se/en/news/harvard-statistician-appointed-honorary-doctor-at-the-faculty-of-science-and-technology_9277314/|title=Harvard statistician appointed honorary doctor at the Faculty of Science and Technology|publisher=[[Umeå University]]|website=Umeå University|date=August 10, 2020|access-date=March 18, 2021}}</ref><ref name="MargolisBiography2018">{{cite web |title=Implementation of Signal Detection Capabilities in the Sentinel System Biographies |url=https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/sentinel_signal_identification_public_workshop_bios_final_print.pdf |website=Margolis Institute for Health Policy |publisher=Duke University |access-date=27 March 2024}}</ref> He moved to the United States for his postgraduate studies as a [[Fulbright fellow]],<ref name=umu/> obtaining a [[doctorate]] in [[operations research]] from [[Cornell University]] in 1989.<ref name="MargolisBiography2018" /> His doctoral thesis, titled ''Optimal Control of Favorable Games with a Time Limit'', was written under the direction of [[David Heath (probabilist)|David Clay Heath]].<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=74570}}</ref>
== Career ==
Kulldorff was an associate professor at the Department of Community Medicine at the [[University of Connecticut]]<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://health.uconn.edu/public-health-sciences/about-us/history/ |website=UConn Department of Public Health Sciences |date=February 27, 2017 |access-date=1 June 2023}}</ref> for five years and an associate professor at the Department of Statistics at [[Uppsala University]] for six years. He has also worked as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health in the US.<ref name=umu /> From 2003 to 2021 he was a professor of medicine at [[Harvard Medical School]], and from 2015 to 2021 he was also a biostatistician at the [[Brigham and Women's Hospital]].<ref name="DFHCC" />
Kulldorff developed [[SaTScan]], a free software program used for geographical and hospital disease surveillance<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blair |first1=Kimberly |title=UWF students turn quality-of-life data detectives |url=https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/10/26/uwf-students-turn-quality-life-data-detectives/17983773/ |access-date=February 9, 2022 |work=Pensacola News Journal |date=October 26, 2014}}</ref> which is widely used,<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Elias J, Harmsen D, Claus H, Hellenbrand W, Frosch M, Vogel U |title=Spatiotemporal Analysis of Invasive Meningococcal Disease, Germany |journal=[[Emerging Infectious Diseases]] |date=2006 |volume=12 |issue=11 |pages=1689–1695 |doi=<!-- The DOI 10.3201/eid1211.060682 does not work for this article-->|url=https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/16407|pmid=17283618 |pmc=3372358 }}</ref> as well as a TreeScan software program for data mining. He is the co-developer of the R-Sequential software program for exact sequential analysis.<ref name="PMC6984739">{{cite journal |title=Exact sequential analysis for multiple weighted binomial end points |journal=Statistics in Medicine |date=November 25, 2019 |last1=Silva |first1=Ivair |last2=Gagne |first2=Joshua |last3=Najafzadeh |first3=Mehdi |last4=Kulldorff |first4=Martin |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=340–351 |doi=10.1002/sim.8405 |pmid=31769079 |pmc=6984739 }}</ref> He developed the statistical and [[epidemiological method]]s that are used in the software. These methods include spatial and space-time scan statistics, the [[Decision tree learning|tree-based]] [[scan statistics]] and various sequential analysis methods.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/Sequential/Sequential.pdf |title=Package 'Sequential' |date=February 21, 2021 |access-date=March 22, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Spatial and Space-Time Scan Statistics|url=https://surveillance.cancer.gov/satscan/|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=surveillance.cancer.gov}}</ref>
He helped develop and implement statistical methods used by the [[Vaccine Safety Datalink]] (VSD) project that the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] uses, among other tools, to discover and evaluate vaccine health and safety risks.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lieu|first1=Tracy A.|last2=Kulldorff|first2=Martin|last3=Davis|first3=Robert L.|last4=Lewis|first4=Edwin M.|last5=Weintraub|first5=Eric|last6=Yih|first6=Katherine|last7=Yin|first7=Ruihua|last8=Brown|first8=Jeffrey S.|last9=Platt|first9=Richard|last10=Team|first10=Vaccine Safety Datalink Rapid Cycle Analysis|date=2007|title=Real-Time Vaccine Safety Surveillance for the Early Detection of Adverse Events|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40221562|journal=Medical Care|volume=45|issue=10|pages=S89–S95|doi=10.1097/MLR.0b013e3180616c0a|jstor=40221562|pmid=17909389|s2cid=16950711|issn=0025-7079|quote=The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-sponsored Vaccine Safety Datalink Project developed a real-time surveillance system and initiated its use in an ongoing study of a new meningococcal vaccine for adolescents.}}</ref><ref name="kulldorff-catalyst">{{Cite web|title=Harvard Catalyst Profiles: Martin Kulldorff|url=https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/78448|access-date=January 15, 2022|website=Harvard Catalyst}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Rongxia|last2=Weintraub|first2=Eric|last3=McNeil|first3=Michael M.|last4=Kulldorff|first4=Martin|last5=Lewis|first5=Edwin M.|last6=Nelson|first6=Jennifer|last7=Xu|first7=Stanley|last8=Qian|first8=Lei|last9=Klein|first9=Nicola P.|last10=Destefano|first10=Frank|date=April 2018|title=Meningococcal conjugate vaccine safety surveillance in the Vaccine Safety Datalink using a tree-temporal scan data mining method|journal=Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety|volume=27|issue=4|pages=391–397|doi=10.1002/pds.4397|issn=1099-1557|pmid=29446176|s2cid=4537909|pmc=10878474}}</ref>
During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Kulldorff advised Florida governor [[Ron DeSantis]] on health policy. In a September 2020 meeting he advocated aiming for [[herd immunity]] by not inhibiting the virus, saying that young people could "live normal life" until it had been reached, at which point older people could live more normal lives too.<ref name=want>{{cite book |vauthors=Howard J |isbn=9781959346036 |title=We Want Them Infected: How the failed quest for herd immunity led doctors to embrace the anti-vaccine movement and blinded Americans to the threat of COVID |year=2023 |publisher=[[Redhawk Publications]] }}</ref>{{rp|191}}
In 2021, Kulldorff was named a senior scientific director at the Brownstone Institute, a right-wing think tank launched by [[Jeffrey Tucker]] that publishes articles challenging various measures against COVID-19, presenting research supporting authors' opinions, and discussing alternative measures.<ref name=saves/><ref>{{Cite web|title=About Brownstone Institute|url=https://brownstone.org/about/|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=Brownstone Institute|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Jay Bhattacharya]] and [[Sunetra Gupta]], his co-authors on the Great Barrington Declaration, also have had roles there. Tucker is the former editorial director of the [[American Institute for Economic Research]] (AIER), where the declaration was signed.<ref name="MedPage-Brownstone"/>
In December 2021, Kulldorff became one of the first three fellows, along with Bhattacharya and [[Scott Atlas]], at the Academy for Science and Freedom, a program of the private, conservative [[Hillsdale College]], a [[liberal arts college|liberal arts school]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Bragman|first1=Walker|last2=Kotch|first2=Alex|date=December 22, 2021|title=How The Koch Network Hijacked The War On COVID|url=https://www.dailyposter.com/how-the-koch-network-hijacked-the-war-on-covid/|access-date=January 19, 2022|website=The Daily Poster|language=en}}</ref>
In March 2024, Kulldorff announced that Harvard had dismissed him.<ref name=fired>{{cite web | last=Kulldorff | first=Martin | title=Harvard Tramples the Truth | website=City Journal | date=2024-03-12 |url=https://www.city-journal.org/article/harvard-tramples-the-truth | access-date=2024-03-14}}</ref><ref name=Howard2024>{{cite web |title=Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Who Posted Pictures of Guillotines and Promised Herd Immunity Would Arrive 3-6 Months After Lockdowns Ended, Fired for 'Clinging to the Truth' |vauthors=Howard J |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |url=https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/fired/ |date=12 March 2024}}</ref>
== Views on COVID-19==
{{further|Great Barrington Declaration}}
In 2020, Kulldorff was invited to meet with leaders, lawyers and staff at the [[American Institute for Economic Research]] (AIER), an American [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] [[think tank]].<ref name=urg/> Following the meeting Kulldorff took the lead in an effort to oppose lockdowns in favor of pursuing [[COVID-19]] herd immunity before vaccines became available. His efforts resulted in the [[Great Barrington Declaration]], an [[open letter]] co-authored with Oxford’s [[Sunetra Gupta]] and Stanford’s [[Jay Bhattacharya]] for the AIER.<ref name=urg/> The document stated that lower-risk groups would develop herd immunity through infection while vulnerable groups should be protected from the virus.<ref name="barrington2">{{cite web|last=Gorski|first=David|author-link=David Gorski|title=The Great Barrington Declaration: COVID-19 deniers follow the path laid down by creationists, HIV/AIDS denialists, and climate science deniers|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/great-barrington-declaration/|website=Science-Based Medicine|date=October 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Burki|first=Talha Khan|date=February 1, 2021|title=Herd immunity for COVID-19|journal=The Lancet Respiratory Medicine|language=English|volume=9|issue=2|pages=135–136|doi=10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30555-5|issn=2213-2600|pmc=7832483|pmid=33245861}}</ref> The [[World Health Organization]], the [[National Institutes of Health]] and other public-health bodies said such a policy lacked a sound scientific basis.<ref name="thehill-dozens">{{Cite web|last=Zilbermints|first=Regina|date=October 15, 2020|title=Dozens of public health groups, experts blast 'herd immunity' strategy backed by White House|url=https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/521159-dozens-of-public-health-groups-experts-blast-herd-immunity-strategy-backed|access-date=January 22, 2022|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name="wsj-touts" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Gordon|first=Elana|date=October 20, 2020|title=Public health experts warn against herd immunity strategy to manage COVID-19|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-10-20/public-health-experts-warn-against-herd-immunity-strategy-manage-covid-19|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=The World from PRX|language=en|quote=As herd immunity gains new ground as a possible public health strategy, a growing chorus of public health experts is speaking out against it as an extremely dangerous idea. ... Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization, called the herd-immunity strategy unethical. ... In response to the mounting attention, dozens of health researchers from around the globe published what they've called the John Snow Memorandum last Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Swanson|first=Ian|date=October 5, 2020|title=Trump health official meets with doctors pushing herd immunity|url=https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/519727-trump-health-official-meets-with-doctors-pushing-herd-immunity|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en|quote=The mainstream view of epidemiologists and public health experts, including the nation's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization, is that the best way to get through COVID-19 and protect people who are at risk for serious illness is to not get sick in the first place by wearing masks and practicing social distancing.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Achenbach|first=Joel|date=October 14, 2020|title=Proposal to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus grabs White House attention but appalls top scientists|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-herd-immunity/2020/10/10/3910251c-0a60-11eb-859b-f9c27abe638d_story.html|quote=A senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing call Monday that the proposed strategy — which has been denounced by other infectious-disease experts and called "fringe" and "dangerous" by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins — supports what has been Trump's policy for months. ... "What I worry about with this is it's being presented as if it's a major alternative view that's held by large numbers of experts in the scientific community. That is not true," Collins, NIH director, said in an interview.}}</ref> Scientists dismissed the policy as impossible in practice, unethical and [[pseudoscientific]],<ref name=gbdfringe>
*For "unethical", ''see'' {{cite web |author=Professor Sir Robert Lechler|title=Navigating COVID-19 through the volume of competing voices {{!}} The Academy of Medical Sciences |url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/navigating-covid-19-through-the-volume-of-competing-voices |website=acmedsci.ac.uk |access-date=October 10, 2020 |archive-date=October 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012061224/https://acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/navigating-covid-19-through-the-volume-of-competing-voices |url-status=live }};
*for the "impossible" nature and "false promise" of focused protection, ''see'' {{cite web |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |first=David|last= Gorski|author-link=David Gorski|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/great-barrington-declaration/ |title=The Great Barrington Declaration: COVID-19 deniers follow the path laid down by creationists, HIV/AIDS denialists, and climate science deniers |date=October 12, 2020 |quote=To boil it all down, if you listen to epidemiologists and public health scientists, you’ll soon realize that it’s impossible to protect the vulnerable from a virus that’s rapidly spreading among the entire population, even if the risk of death or severe disease is much lower in the young.}};
*for "pseudoscience", ''see'' {{cite web |work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |author=Reid Wilson |date=October 15, 2020 |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/521320-great-barrington-mass-comes-out-against-great-barrington-declaration |title=Town of Great Barrington, Mass., comes out against Great Barrington Declaration}}.</ref> warning that attempting to implement it could cause many [[Excess mortality|unnecessary deaths]] with the potential of recurrent waves of disease spread as immunity decreases over time.<ref name="wsj-touts">{{Cite news|last1=Toy|first1=Sarah|last2=Hernandez|first2=Daniela|date=October 18, 2020|title=Scientists Push Back on Herd-Immunity Approach to Covid-19|language=en-US|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-touts-document-calling-for-herd-immunity-approach-to-covid-19-crisis-11603051550|url-access=subscription|access-date=August 27, 2021|issn=0099-9660|quote=A group of scientists is pushing back on renewed calls for a herd-immunity approach to Covid-19, calling the method of managing viral outbreaks dangerous and unsupported by scientific evidence. ... If immunity wanes after several months, as it does with the flu, patients could be susceptible to the virus after being infected, they said. That, they said, would result in recurrent and potentially large waves of infection, a common occurrence before vaccines were invented.}}</ref> Kulldorff and the other authors met with US officials of the [[Presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] to share their ideas on 5 October 2020, the day after the declaration was made public.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Mandavilli|first1=Apoorva|last2=Stolberg|first2=Sheryl Gay|date=October 19, 2020|title=A Viral Theory Cited by Health Officials Draws Fire From Scientists|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/health/coronavirus-great-barrington.html|access-date=January 22, 2022|issn=0362-4331|quote=On Oct. 5, the day after the declaration was made public, the three authors — Dr. Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard — arrived in Washington at the invitation of Dr. Atlas to present their plan to a small but powerful audience: the health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II.}}</ref>
During the pandemic Kulldorff has opposed [[Public health mitigation of COVID-19|COVID-19 disease control measures]].<ref name=sbm2>{{cite web |quote=In order to maintain the illusion that his plan had any relevance in a post-vaccine world, Dr. Kulldorff has been forced to disparage vaccines, lockdowns, and all other measures that limit the spread of the virus.|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/isthatbad/ |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |vauthors=Howard J |title=Lockdowns 'Postponed the Inevitable'. Is That a Bad Thing? |date=28 August 2022}}</ref> The measures opposed include lockdowns, [[contact tracing]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Musgrave|first=Jane|title=Coronavirus: DeSantis lays groundwork to overturn local mask mandates, chides 'lockdown' states|url=https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/03/18/coronavirus-desantis-lays-groundwork-overturn-local-mask-mandates/4748407001/|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=The Palm Beach Post|language=en-US}}</ref> vaccine mandates, and [[Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic|mask mandates]].<ref name="MedPage2" /><ref name="bmj-lenzer">{{Cite journal|last=Lenzer|first=Jeanne|date=October 7, 2020|title=Covid-19: Group of UK and US experts argues for "focused protection" instead of lockdowns|url=https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3908|journal=BMJ|language=en|volume=371|pages=m3908|doi=10.1136/bmj.m3908|issn=1756-1833|pmid=33028622|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="CBSLocal-DeSantis"/> He has spoken out against [[vaccine passports during the COVID-19 pandemic|vaccine passports]], stating they disproportionately harm the working class.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 18, 2021|title=Gov. DeSantis: Vaccine passports are 'totally unacceptable'|url=https://nbc-2.com/news/health/2021/03/18/gov-desantis-round-table-vaccine-passports-could-be-detrimental-to-working-class/|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=NBC2 News|language=en-US}}</ref> Kulldorff and Bhattacharya opposed broad vaccine mandates, stating that the mortality risk is "a thousand fold higher" in older people than in younger people.<ref name=hill1>{{cite news | newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | first1=Martin | last1=Kulldorff | first2=Jay | last2=Bhattacharya | title=The ill-advised push to vaccinate the young | date=June 17, 2021 | accessdate=September 2, 2021 |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/558757-the-ill-advised-push-to-vaccinate-the-young}}</ref><ref name="MedPage2" /><ref name="bmj-lenzer" /> He has argued against COVID vaccinations for children, saying that the risks outweigh the benefits.<ref name=urg>{{cite web |first=David|last=Gorski|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/covid-theater-urgency-of-normal-gbd/ |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |title=Old antivax tropes never die: 'COVID theater,' 'Urgency of Normal,' and the Great Barrington Declaration |date=14 March 2022 |authorlink=David Gorski}}</ref>
In an [[Op-ed]] in the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' co-authored with [[Jay Bhattacharya]], the authors stated that [[COVID-19 testing]] should not be used to "check asymptomatic children to see if it is safe for them to come to school" because of the difference in mortality risk for young persons compared to older persons. Instead, the authors wrote that "[w]ith the new CDC guidelines, strategic age-targeted viral testing will protect older people from deadly COVID-19 exposure and children and young adults from needless school closures".<ref name="MedPage2"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kulldorff |first1=Martin |last2=Bhattacharya |first2=Jay |title=Opinion, The Case Against Covid Tests for the Young and Healthy |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-against-covid-tests-for-the-young-and-healthy-11599151722 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=3 September 2020}}</ref>
On 18 March 2021, Kulldorff participated in an online roundtable with the governor of the state [[Florida]], [[Ron DeSantis]], to discuss COVID-19. In the video, which was posted on [[YouTube]], DeSantis asked the group if children should wear masks in school and Kulldorff responded "children should not wear face masks. No. They don't need it for their own protection and they don't need it for protecting other people, either."<ref name="tbtimes-2021">{{Cite news|last1=Wilson|first1=Kirby|last2=Ross|first2=Allison|title=YouTube removes video of DeSantis coronavirus roundtable|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/04/09/youtube-removes-video-of-desantis-coronavirus-roundtable/|date=April 9, 2021|access-date=February 14, 2022|work=Tampa Bay Times|language=en}}</ref> In April, YouTube removed the recording of the roundtable, asserting it violated YouTube's policy regarding medical information.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Knight|first=Victoria|title=Censorship or misinformation? DeSantis and YouTube spar over COVID roundtable takedown|url=https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/apr/21/censorship-or-misinformation-desantis-and-youtube-/|access-date=February 14, 2022|website=[[PolitiFact]]|language=en-US}}</ref> At the time the video was published, the [[Centers for Disease Control]] recommended universal indoor masking for children two years and older.<ref name="tbtimes-2021"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=CDC|date=January 28, 2022|title=Guidance for Operating Early Care and Education/Child Care Programs|url=https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/child-care-guidance.html|access-date=February 14, 2022|website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|language=en-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214032644/https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/child-care-guidance.html|archive-date=February 14, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
Kulldorff was a member of the Vaccine Safety Technical subgroup of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.<ref name="Bloomberg-JnJ">{{Cite web|last=Peebles|first=Angelica|date=April 21, 2021|title=J&J Shot's Future Depends on 15 Cautious Vaccine Experts|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-21/j-j-shot-s-u-s-future-depends-on-15-cautious-vaccine-experts|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 2, 2021|website=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]]}}</ref> In April 2021, he disagreed with the CDC's pause of the [[Janssen COVID-19 vaccine|Johnson & Johnson vaccine]] rollout and argued publicly that the vaccine's benefits outweighed clotting risks, particularly for older people.<ref name="Bloomberg-JnJ" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kulldorff|first=Martin|date=April 17, 2021|title=The dangers of pausing the J&J vaccine|url=https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/548817-the-dangers-of-pausing-the-jj-vaccine|access-date=January 16, 2022|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en|quote=Unfortunately, the recent "pause" on using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will dampen the impact of this success.}}</ref>
In December 2021, Kulldorff published an essay for the [[Brownstone Institute]] in which he argued against children receiving vaccination against COVID-19, falsely claiming that [[influenza]] was a greater risk to children than COVID-19.<ref name="saves" /> In a critical response published in [[Science-Based Medicine]], Jonathan Howard noted errors and factual inaccuracies in Kulldorff's essay, pointing out that while influenza was responsible for only one child death in the 2020/21 season – while [[public health mitigation of COVID-19]] was in place – COVID-19 killed more than 1,000.<ref name=saves>{{cite web |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |title=I Disagree With an Article Called 'Vaccines Save Lives' |vauthors=Howard J |date=23 December 2021 |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/i-disagree-with-an-article-called-vaccines-save-lives/}}</ref> In addition to this, Kulldorff's essay omitted that children who are infected with COVID-19 are at risk for rare but serious conditions, such as [[Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children|MIS-C]], with 8,862 confirmed cases of children with MIS-C by March of 2023.<ref name=saves/><ref name="Maltz-Matyschsyk2023">{{cite journal |last1=Maltz-Matyschsyk |first1=Michele |last2=K. Melchiorre |first2=Clare |last3=Herbst |first3=Katherine W. |last4=Hogan |first4=Alexander H. |last5=Dibble |first5=Kristina |last6=O'Sullivan |first6=Brandon |last7=Graf |first7=Joerg |last8=Jadhav |first8=Aishwarya |last9=Lawrence |first9=David A. |last10=Lee |first10=William T. |last11=J. Carson |first11=Kyle |last12=Radolf |first12=Justin D. |last13=C. Salazar |first13=Juan |last14=Lynes |first14=Michael A. |title=Development of a biomarker signature using grating-coupled fluorescence plasmonic microarray for diagnosis of MIS-C |journal=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |date=31 March 2023 |volume=11 |doi=10.3389/fbioe.2023.1066391 |doi-access=free |pmid=37064248 |pmc=10102909 }}</ref>
On 13 February 2022, Kulldorff tweeted in support of the [[Canada convoy protest]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Kiera |date=February 15, 2022 |title=These doctors' groups are cheering on the anti-vax truckers |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/ottawa-convoy-protest-promoters-elite-medical-credentials-financial-incentives-astroturf-libertarian/ |access-date=March 4, 2022 |website=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |language=en-US}}</ref> which was organized to protest against vaccine mandates and other government restrictions regarding COVID-19.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Woods |first1=Michael |last2=Pringle |first2=Josh |date=January 27, 2022 |title=Truck convoy rolls into Kingston, Ont. |url=https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/truck-convoy-rolls-into-kingston-ont-1.5756220 |access-date=March 5, 2022 |website=CTV News Ottawa |language=en}}</ref> In December 2022, Florida Gov. DeSantis named Kulldorff, Bhattacharya, and several other opponents of the scientific consensus on COVID-19 vaccines to his newly formed Public Health Integrity Committee to "offer critical assessments" of recommendations from federal health agencies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Catherman |first=Caroline |date=2022-12-13 |title=DeSantis announces grand jury to investigate 'wrongdoing' around COVID-19 vaccines |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-desantis-grand-jury-covid-vaccines-ladapo-research-20221213-owp55jm45bayzmpwvp3wel6f6y-story.html |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References==
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== External links ==
* {{Google Scholar id | id=WNEj34MAAAAJ}}
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