Epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard University since 2003, announced on social media Monday that he was "fired" by the university.
"I am no longer a professor of medicine at Harvard," Kulldorff wrote in a lengthy essay in the City Journal, also posting the news on his X account. "The Harvard motto is Veritas, Latin for truth. But, as I discovered, truth can get you fired."
Kulldorff was a prominent opponent of vaccine mandates and school closures during COVID-era debate about the regulation of schools and businesses. He, along with Professor Sunetra Gupta at Oxford University and Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya, released the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020, which "argu[ed] for age-based focused protection instead of universal lockdowns, with specific suggestions for how better to protect the elderly, while letting children and young adults live close to normal lives."
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"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," Kulldorff wrote, recounting criticism against him and other professors for refusing to say that lockdown measures were a scientifically guided measure.
Kulldorff wrote that "[b[odily autonomy" was an argument against COVID vaccine mandates, calling those measures "unscientific and unethical" and restating his support for natural immunity from COVID and other diseases.
"The beauty of our immune system is that those who recover from an infection are protected if and when they are re-exposed," Kulldorff explained, also referencing a controversial "consensus" memorandum released by three members of Harvard's faculty for The Lancet, a prestigious scientific journal. That memo "question[ed] the existence of COVID-acquired immunity."
Kulldorff concluded 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 added.
He wrote that Harvard must bring back "academic freedom" and stop "cancel culture" if it wanted "to deserve and regain public trust."
"When scientists have different takes on topics of public importance, universities should organize open and civilized debates to pursue the truth," Kulldorff argued. "Harvard could have done that—and it still can, if it chooses."
"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," the scientist continued. "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."
"My hope is that someday, Harvard will find its way back to academic freedom and independence," he wrote.
Harvard University did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
