Martin Kulldorff, chair of the Trump administration鈥檚 reconstituted CDC vaccine panel, made a shocking 鈥 and misleading 鈥 statement as the group met in September. Referring to a clinical trial, Kulldorff, a biostatistician and former professor at Harvard Medical School, said eight babies born to women who received Pfizer鈥檚 covid vaccine while pregnant had birth defects, compared with two born to unvaccinated women.
鈥淚t is very concerning to have a fourfold excess risk of birth defects in these pregnant women,鈥 Kulldorff then said.
Scientists criticized Kulldorff鈥檚 questions and remarks in that meeting because they suggested that the vaccine caused birth defects, which is . The birth defects would have occurred before the women received the vaccine, the scientists said. They say it was one of several scientifically unsubstantiated claims by newly appointed members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an influential panel that guides which vaccines millions of people receive and whether insurance covers their cost.
Many of the new panel members share a connection to a little-known think tank making its mark in President Donald Trump鈥檚 Washington: the Brownstone Institute.
Libertarian author Jeffrey Tucker created the nonprofit institute in 2021, fueled by and other pandemic-era policies. 鈥淵ou cannot do something like that to the world and expect people just to sit by and go, 鈥極K, that鈥檚 normal,鈥欌 Tucker said in an interview.
Tucker ; said of that 鈥渢here is no evidence at all that the vaccines saved millions,鈥 contradicting showing the opposite; and .
His institute鈥檚 covid contrarians seek to limit the government鈥檚 role in protecting Americans from disease. The Austin, Texas-based think tank from donors whose identities are shielded in tax filings. And in recent months, its associates have catapulted to the highest levels of government.
At least eight people with ties to the Brownstone Institute hold or recently held senior positions at federal health agencies or key roles advising the government, exercising significant authority over access to vaccines and scientific research.
They include Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, which has been racked by funding cuts and firings under the Trump administration, as well as senior Food and Drug Administration officials Vinay Prasad and Tracy Beth H酶eg. Prasad has been involved in of covid vaccines. H酶eg has about vaccine mandates and some childhood immunizations.
Bhattacharya was a senior scholar for the organization. Brownstone has published and writings on its website. H酶eg has reported from the group.
The institute has and . Tucker that 2020 marked 鈥渢he beginning of a long friendship鈥 with Kulldorff 鈥渢hat continues to this day.鈥 Three other ACIP members share connections with the organization: MIT operations management professor Retsef Levi, who as part of at least one Brownstone event; physician Robert Malone, who and ; and Case Western Reserve University professor and epidemiologist Catherine Stein, who in 2022 calling for an end to vaccine mandates at universities.
Thomas Buckley, a public relations professional who wrote for the institute, accepted a political appointment as a top NIH spokesperson after thousands of workers at the biomedical research agency were fired. Buckley that his 鈥渓ed to my new job.鈥
鈥淭hat鈥檚 maybe his judgment,鈥 Tucker said.
Buckley, when asked to elaborate, said in an email that he interviewed Bhattacharya 鈥渇or a story that was later published on Brownstone 鈥 it was simply me being polite.鈥 He said he resigned from the NIH on Sept. 30. NIH spokesperson Laci Williams declined to confirm his departure date.
Despite the ascendance of those with ties to his group, Tucker said that 鈥渁nybody who thinks that somehow Brownstone is some big plot, it鈥檚 crazy.鈥 He said he is not in regular contact with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department oversees the CDC, FDA, and NIH.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any influence,鈥 Tucker said.
Sowing Vaccine Doubt
People with ties to the institute have sown doubt about covid vaccines or routine childhood immunizations, dismissing widespread evidence that they are safe and the benefits outweigh the risks.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e successfully placed their ideology inside the mechanism that determines U.S. vaccine policy,鈥 said Jake Scott, a physician at Stanford Medicine who specializes in infectious diseases. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very troubling.鈥
Tucker said that Brownstone 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have any operational impact on the ACIP committee at all鈥 and that 鈥渋f somebody wasn鈥檛 troubled by Brownstone, there鈥檚 probably no reason for us to exist.鈥
Tucker and Brownstone鈥檚 associates express libertarian views and , including public health authorities.
鈥淭he evidence is mounting and indisputable that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people. We have to stop giving them immediately!鈥 Levi in 2023, referring to vaccines based on messenger RNA technology, which Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna used to develop their covid shots. that covid vaccine mandates are 鈥渦nethical鈥 and not scientifically justified. Bhattacharya asserted on a podcast with Trump ally Stephen Bannon that mRNA technology for vaccines is 鈥,鈥 and he has overseen for scientific research.
Kennedy in June fired all 17 members of the CDC鈥檚 vaccine panel and has replaced them with 12 people so far, including individuals with connections to the Brownstone Institute. Tucker said that he did not propose to the White House or HHS that they be appointed and that Brownstone has not paid them over the past year.
During the September ACIP meeting, several new panel members expressed skepticism of vaccines and dismissed evidence 鈥 including the CDC鈥檚 own data 鈥 demonstrating that they are safe and effective.
That included Kulldorff鈥檚 questions and remarks about covid vaccines and birth defects.
In a Pfizer clinical trial, hundreds of pregnant women were given covid vaccines or a placebo of pregnancy. But the birth defects typically would have formed long before the vaccine was given, said Jeffrey Morris, a biostatistics and public health professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
鈥淭o say that this is a major safety risk,鈥 Morris said, 鈥渋s beyond a stretch.鈥
鈥淭his one really upsets me because it鈥檚 just so misleading,鈥 he said.
have shown between covid vaccines and miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth defects.
In response to questions for this article, Kulldorff said: 鈥淚n the randomized trial, there were four times as many birth defects in children born to mothers receiving the Pfizer covid vaccine during pregnancy compared to the placebo-receiving control group. To ensure vaccine confidence, it is the responsibility of ACIP to note and inquire about such discrepancies, and it is the manufacturer鈥檚 responsibility to thoroughly examine it through additional follow-up studies.鈥
Kulldorff said he is 鈥渘ot affiliated with the Brownstone Institute鈥 but declined to respond to additional questions, including whether he is currently compensated by the organization or has donated to it. The Brownstone Institute paid Kulldorff $108,333 in 2022, according to .
Levi said he heard about the Brownstone Institute from social media. He said he is in contact with Tucker 鈥渙nce in a while鈥 but said Tucker has not advised him on vaccines since he was named to the CDC鈥檚 vaccine panel. Levi said he has 鈥渘ever received any compensation,鈥 鈥渘ever had any affiliation,鈥 and 鈥渘ever donated or given any money鈥 to the group.
Bhattacharya did not respond to questions. Williams, the NIH spokesperson, who had earlier declined to respond, citing the federal government shutdown, did not respond to a query seeking comment after the shutdown ended Nov. 12.
Stein declined to comment and referred questions to HHS. Department spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement that Stein鈥檚 ACIP appointment 鈥渞eflects the Administration鈥檚 commitment to independent, evidence-based science. Her professional record speaks for itself.鈥
The Brownstone Institute鈥檚 website says 鈥渢o support writers, lawyers, scientists, economists, and other people of courage who have been professionally purged and displaced during the upheaval of our times.鈥
鈥淭here鈥檚 a danger associated with a state-imposed orthodoxy,鈥 Tucker said in the interview. 鈥淚 think Brownstone has a moral obligation to care for dissidents and create settings in which they鈥檙e able to test their ideas against people with whom they disagree.鈥
He said that 鈥渢here鈥檚 never harm that comes from open debate and open distribution of information and views.鈥 But Brownstone鈥檚 critics say its associates make extreme claims about vaccines and promote anti-vaccine messages.
鈥淭hey kind of position themselves as defending freedom, but they consistently platform covid minimizers and vaccine skeptics,鈥 Scott said.
Tucker took issue with the description, saying 鈥渋t presumes that we know exactly with scientific precision the severity of covid, and so anybody who falls short of explaining that with amazing precision is a minimizer.鈥
In early September, Scott testified at a Senate subcommittee hearing on vaccines alongside Toby Rogers, a political economist and Brownstone Institute fellow who any medical credentials. Rogers wrote last year that 鈥渧accines are a civilization-destroying technology鈥 and has promoted the that vaccines cause autism. 鈥淢y belief is that the autism and chronic disease epidemics are primarily caused by toxicants 鈥 mostly from vaccines and about a dozen additional toxicants,鈥 at the Senate hearing. there is no link between vaccines and autism.
Days later, members of Kennedy鈥檚 handpicked panel of CDC vaccine advisers 鈥渟pent hours elevating these theories鈥 about vaccines 鈥渢hat are not really based in solid evidence or high-quality studies,鈥 Scott said. 鈥淭hey manufactured doubt about established vaccines, entertained all this speculation without any evidence 鈥 that鈥檚 the real damage.鈥
Levi, responding to that criticism, said: 鈥淔or the first time in a long time we are issuing objective, evidence-based immunization recommendations through ACIP with honest and transparent discussion of the benefits, risks, and uncertainties.鈥
As the panel weighed whether to delay the hepatitis B shot given to most newborns, H酶eg, a senior adviser for clinical sciences at the FDA, questioned whether the vaccine is safe. 鈥淲e should have some humility and consider that we may not know all of the potential safety issues,鈥 she said to the CDC panel.
shows that the hepatitis B newborn dose is safe and that the shot has very few side effects. Starting in 1991, that the first of three shots of hepatitis B vaccine be given to infants shortly after birth. The move virtually eliminated the potentially fatal disease among American children. Babies infected with the virus at birth have a of developing chronic hepatitis B.
In academic journals, H酶eg has disclosed from the Brownstone Institute but did not specify . She has described Tucker as 鈥.鈥 H酶eg did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
In an email, the FDA鈥檚 Prasad said that he 鈥渉as received no money from Brownstone or any person(s) affiliated鈥 and that all his content published on its website 鈥渨as republished from his own personal Substack.鈥
Tucker said he has not advised Prasad or H酶eg on vaccines since they became FDA officials. He described the latest CDC vaccine panel meeting as 鈥渁 breath of fresh air.鈥
The Covid Contrarian Clubhouse
The Brownstone Institute, on its website, 鈥渢he spiritual child of the Great Barrington Declaration,鈥 the controversial pandemic treatise Bhattacharya, Kulldorff, and Oxford University epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta co-authored in October 2020 that argued against lockdown measures to prevent the covid virus from spreading.
They proposed that widespread immunity against covid could be achieved by allowing healthy people to get infected, known as herd immunity, with protective measures instituted for medically vulnerable people.
The proposal was criticized at the time by many public health experts and high-ranking government officials, including then-NIH Director Francis Collins, who called its authors 鈥渇ringe epidemiologists,鈥 the American Institute for Economic Research obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. (Tucker was AIER from 2017 to 2021.)
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been willing to publish articles of some very extreme anti-vaccine people,鈥 Dorit Reiss, a professor at University of California Law-San Francisco focused on vaccine-related legal and policy issues, said of the Brownstone Institute. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to give a more respectable veneer to the result of the Great Barrington Declaration,鈥 she added.
In response, Tucker said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think being an extremist is a good basis on which to shut somebody鈥檚 thoughts down. We need provocations.鈥
Tucker said he did not propose that Bhattacharya 鈥 who was a senior scholar at the institute and from July 2021 through October 2024 鈥 be nominated to lead the NIH. More than one-third of the articles were co-authored with Kulldorff, who became Brownstone鈥檚 senior scientific director in November 2021.
Kulldorff he was fired from the Harvard-affiliated Mass General Brigham hospital system and placed on leave at the university that month after he refused to be vaccinated against covid, saying he had natural immunity. Kulldorff said he was in early 2021.
The Brownstone Institute reported nearly $7.4 million in contributions, grants, and other payments between 2021 and 2024, with about 35% coming from tax-exempt foundations and donor-advised funds, according to an analysis of tax filings. Donor-advised funds allow people to secure tax deductions for anonymous charitable contributions. Tucker said the organization has 17,000 donors, most of them small, but declined to elaborate on funders.
The filings show the institute has also received funding from foundations run by people with backgrounds in business, including in tech, finance, law, and banking. According to a review of tax records, many of them have also given to anti-vaccine organizations; groups such as the Independent Medical Alliance, which promoted for covid; or prominent organizations in conservative politics, such as the Federalist Society, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Heritage Foundation. Brownstone in 2023 received , which funds conservative causes.
As of 2024, the Brownstone Institute鈥檚 board included David Stockman, a White House budget chief under President Ronald Reagan; libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux; and Roger Ver, an investor known as 鈥.鈥
said he gave more than $1 million to the institute.
In 2024, Ver by a federal grand jury for allegedly committing tax fraud costing the IRS at least $48 million. On Oct. 14, the that Ver had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve federal tax charges against him and has paid the IRS nearly $50 million. The government has moved to dismiss the indictment against him.
鈥楶eople Are Very Skeptical鈥
Other than publishing posts on its website, the institute awards fellowships and convenes conferences and retreats. Its associates testify in front of Congress. And it holds a 鈥淪upper Club鈥 series in cities throughout the country.
鈥淭he goal of Brownstone is to make possible wide-ranging conversations about the failure of the system and the solutions to it,鈥 Tucker said.
Ashley Grogg, a registered nurse and founder of Hoosiers for Medical Liberty, spoke at a Supper Club on 鈥渋nformed decision-making,鈥 primarily about vaccines.
鈥淧eople are very skeptical,鈥 Grogg said in an interview. 鈥淗ow do we trust people moving forward? Do we really think that we can trust the new leadership that鈥檚 coming in to do the right thing?鈥
She said she was connected to Brownstone through one of her members. Grogg said she does not think newborns should universally be given the hepatitis B vaccine shortly after birth and opposes vaccine mandates. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to take anything away from anybody,鈥 but people who refuse to be vaccinated should not be 鈥渨ithheld from society,鈥 Grogg said.
In September, as the CDC鈥檚 vaccine advisers met, Tucker took to the social media platform X to amplify statements questioning vaccines, including from panel members with ties to the group he created. One was , 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that a significant population in the United States has significant concerns about vaccine policy and about vaccine mandates.鈥 Another was from Levi, who, , said, 鈥淢ost of us are extremely concerned about the safety and the lack of robust evidence both on safety and efficacy for not only pregnant women, but their babies.鈥
There is that mRNA and non-mRNA covid vaccines are safe for pregnant women. A mother鈥檚 vaccination while pregnant . CDC data that drew upon medical records in 12 states found that who were hospitalized with covid had mothers who did not get the vaccine while pregnant.
In response to questions for this article, Levi said in an email that 鈥渢he claim that there is strong evidence for the efficacy and safety of covid vaccination during pregnancy in the absence of appropriate clinical trials is not consistent with fundamental regulatory principles鈥 and that panel members 鈥渨ere also concerned by the potential safety signal in the single (small) clinical trial that was conducted, and other research.鈥 Malone did not respond to questions for this article.
Kulldorff, the ACIP chair, said the panel will review vaccines given during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence.
Less than a week after the ACIP meeting in Atlanta, Levi gave a Brownstone Institute talk about artificial intelligence systems.
Brownstone was a sponsor this month when Children鈥檚 Health Defense, a leading anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Kennedy, held its in Austin.
And during the institute鈥檚 own annual conference recently in Utah, who received its first 鈥淏rownstone Prize.鈥
鈥淚 would think it represents a kind of integrity and courage in public life,鈥 Tucker said, 鈥渁nd stand up for what you believe is the truth, even at some degree of personal risk.鈥