Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi is a retired Thai-German microbiologist.^[1] In 2020 Bhakdi became a prominent exponent of ideas about the coronavirus pandemic that ran counter to the scientific consensus.^[2]

He was a professor at the University of Mainz, where from 1991 to 2012 he was head of the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene.^[3]

Professor Dr. Bhakdi studied at the Universities of Bonn, Gießen, Mainz and Copenhagen, and at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg.^[3]

He studied medicine at the University of Bonn from 1963 to 1970, during part of which (from 1966 to 1970) he was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service.^[6] Bhakdi worked for a while as a private assistant to the internal medicine specialist Walter Siegenthaler.^[5] In February 1971 he received his doctorate in medicine. From 1972 to 1978, he studied at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology in Freiburg on scholarships from the Max Planck Society at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology in Freiburg and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.^[3]

He worked at the University of Copenhagen for a year before moving to the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen, where he worked from 1977 to 1990.

Bhakdi’s criticisms of the COVID-19 pandemic response

His criticisms of states’ (most particularly Germany’s) reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic have included:

• Writing an open Letter to German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel regarding the “socio-economic consequences of the drastic containment measures which are currently being applied in large parts of Europe”^[18]
• Posting videos on YouTube^[19] claiming, for example, that the Governement was overreacting because the virus posed no more threat than influenza, and that any COVID-19 vaccine would be “pointless”.^[20]
• Participation in the writing of a “position paper of the BMI” by an employee of the German crisis management department.^[21][22][23] The Federal Ministry distanced itself from the position, calling the paper a “private opinion” circulating on official letterhead, and released the chief government councilor Stephan Kohn from duty.^[24]
• He is the co-author of Corona, False Alarm? Facts and Figures (2020), German: (‘Corona Fehlalarm?’)^[25][26] An earlier book of his was published in 2016, Schreckgespenst Infektionen – Mythen, Wahn und Wirklichkeit (tr. “Bogeyman Infections – Myths, Delusions and Reality”).^[27] He published both books together with his wife, Karina Reiss, a biologist and biochemist at the Quincke Research Center, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.^[28]

Professional awards

• 1979 Preis der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen^[33]
• 1980 Konstanzer Medizinischer Förderpreis^[33]
• 1987 Preis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie^[34]
• 1988 Dr.-Friedrich-Sasse-Preis^[33]
• 1989 Ludwig-Schunk-Preis für Humanmedizin^[33]
• 1989 Robert-Koch-Förderpreis of Clausthal-Zellerfeld^[35]
• 1991 Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize^[36]
• 2001 Aronson Prize for „wegweisende Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet des Komplementsystems und bakterieller Toxine“ tr. “pioneering work in the field of the complement system and bacterial toxins”^[37][38]
• 2005 H. W. Hauss Award^[39]
• 2005 Verdienstorden des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz^[12]
• 2009 Rudolf-Schönheimer Medal of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Arterioskleroseforschung^[40][41]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} “Bhakdis Brief an die Kanzlerin – Was ist dran an seinen Fragen?” [Bhakdi’s Letter to the Chancellor – What About His Questions?]. BR24 (in German). 1 April 2020.
2. ^ ^{a b} Muriel Kalisch; Patrick Stotz (21 May 2020). “Hinter der Verschwörung” [Behind the plot]. Der Spiegel (in German).
3. ^ ^{a b c d} “Sucharit Bhakdi (Punyarataband) Lebenslauf” [curriculum vitae]. studylibde.com. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
4. ^ “Sucharit Bhakdi]”. goldegg-verlag.com, Goldegg Verlag. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
5. ^ ^{a b} “Weltwoche: «Gefährliche Verführungen»” [“Dangerous seductions”]. http://www.weltwoche.ch. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020. His mother, who had studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, inspired him early in medicine. «She was an excellent doctor,» says Bhakdi.
6. ^ ^{a b} Gestern Stipendiatin – und heute? Sucharit Bhakdi – Leiter des Instituts für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (tr.”Yesterday a DAAD-scholar – and today? Sucharit Bhakdi – Head of the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz”) http://www.daad.de, 2006 (Archive)
7. ^ “Neu bei uns. (PDF)” [New to us] (PDF). http://www.unimedizin-mainz.de. September 2013. p. 18. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
8. ^ “Meinungen am Rande des Mainstreams” [Opinions on the margins of the mainstream Pharmazeutische Zeitung]. http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
9. ^ ^{a b} Rohwedder, Wulf (10 August 2020). “Zweierlei Maß bei „Corona-Rebellen”” [Double standards in Corona rebels”]. tagesschau.de. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
10. ^ Schwenke, Karen (8 August 2020). “„Wir wollen zum Denken anregen” – Zwei Kieler Forscher stellen sich gegen alle anerkannten Corona-Experten. Ihr Buch ist ein Bestseller (Paywall)” [“We want to inspire people to think” – Two Kiel researchers stand against all recognized Corona experts. Their book is a bestseller (Interview in den Kieler Nachrichten)].
11. ^ “Scopus preview - Bhakdi, Sucharit - Author details - Scopus”. http://www.scopus.com. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
12. ^ ^{a b} “Sucharit Bhakdi MD”. chelsea green. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
13. ^ Lars Wienand: Corona-Verein von Sucharit Bhakdi verliert Gemeinnützigkeit (tr. “Corona Association of Sucharit Bhakdi loses non-profit”) http://www.t-online.de accessed 5 November 2020
14. ^ Erstunterzeichner (tr. “First signatory”)idw-europe.org accessed 8 October 2020
15. ^ “Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Springer”. http://www.springer.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
16. ^ Schmerer, Kai (28 November 2020). “COVID-19: Youtube sperrt zahlreiche Videos und Konten von Regierungskritikern” [COVID-19: YouTube blocks numerous videos and accounts of government critics]. ZDNet. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
17. ^ Wenn Ärzte von der Coronakrise als einer „kriminellen Inszenierung“ sprechen tr. When doctors speak of the corona crisis as a “criminal act” 22 July 2020, http://www.medical-tribune.de, accessed October 7, 2020 “Die Thesen von Prof. Bhakdi, emeritierter Professor für Mikrobiologie der Uni Mainz, werden von der übergroßen Mehrheit der Experten unwissenschaftlich genannt, denen des ehemaligen Lungenfacharztes Dr. Wodarg wird gleichermaßen widersprochen.” tr. “The Theses of Prof. Bhakdi, professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Mainz, is called unscientific by the vast majority of experts, those of the former lung specialist Dr. Wodarg are equally contradicted.”
18. ^ Open Letter from Professor Sucharit Bhakdi to German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel (26 March 2020) swprs.org, accessed 8 October 2020
19. ^ “Prof. Dr. med. Sucharit Bhakdi”. YouTube. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
20. ^ ^{a b} Kathrin Wesolowski (19 June 2020). “Impfung gegen Covid-19 ”sinnlos”? Sucharit Bhakdi stellt unbelegte Behauptungen auf” [Vaccination against Covid-19 “pointless”? Sucharit Bhakdi makes unfounded claims]. Correctiv (Fact check) (in German).
21. ^ Julia Sextl (13 May 2020). “Brisantes Corona-Papier: War das alles richtig so?” [Explosive Corona paper: was it all right?]. Abendzeitung. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
22. ^ Stephan Kohn (2020). “KM4 Analyse des Krisenmanagements (Kurzfassung)” [KM4 analysis of crisis management (short version)] (PDF). Stephan Kohn / Abendzeitung. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
23. More references here: https://wiki2.org/en/Sucharit_Bhakdi