The Great Barrington Declaration was authored and signed on the campus of the American Institute for Economic Research in October 2020 by Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Dr. Sunetra Gupta, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. AIER and these scholars were motivated by concerns about overreaching policies enacted by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. AIER is proud that our campus was used for academic collaboration and that we supported the right of these doctors, and all Americans, to speak freely about government policies.
The Great Barrington Declaration explained how lockdown policies produced devastating effects on short- and long-term public health and overall human flourishing, all of which disproportionately impacted the working class and young people worldwide. The authors advocated a “focused protection” approach, which would allow people at minimal risk to live normally and build up immunity while protecting those at high risk. AIER does not profess medical, pharmaceutical, or virological expertise, but rather possesses a deep understanding of the economic trade-offs of various institutional designs, as well as the political economy of public policy questions. We were glad to collaborate with outside scientists to at least ask questions about the best approach to the pandemic and challenge our assumptions.
The Great Barrington Declaration was subject to suppression efforts since it contradicted governments’ preferred responses. FOIA requests revealed emails where government officials discussed the need for a “quick and devastating published take down” of the Declaration’s premises, despite tens of thousands of doctors and scientists signing it. It has also been discovered that government agencies pressured social media companies to censor and bury the Declaration’s recommendations. We remain proud of our effort to promote scientific discussion and free inquiry, even amidst such a crisis. It is especially during these times when we must remain vigilant about government overreach and attempts to silence dissenting views.