Great Barrington Declaration

A 2020 statement signed by epidemiologists Martin Kulldorff, Jay Bhattacharya, and Sunetra Gupta — calling for 'focused protection' of vulnerable populations rather than broad lockdowns during COVID-19.

The focused protection argument: the Declaration argued that COVID-19 had a severe age gradient (elderly and immunocompromised at high risk; young and healthy at very low risk) — and that broad lockdowns imposed enormous costs on low-risk populations (economic, educational, health) while the high-risk elderly remained vulnerable. The alternative: aggressively protect the vulnerable while allowing the young and healthy to live normally, achieving herd immunity faster. Controversial: critics argued it would kill hundreds of thousands; proponents argued lockdowns were also killing people through indirect harms. Remains a key document in the COVID policy debate.