An Open Letter from Dr. Byram W. Bridle Opposing Vaccine Mandates

"A medical procedure that adds no value but carries known and still-to-be-defined risks should never be mandated."

Dr. Byram W. Bridle, PhD, Associate Professor of Viral Immunology, addressed an open letter to the President of the university where he teaches in Ontario, Canada. The school imposed a covid vaccine mandate on the entire campus community, including those like Dr. Bridle who have proven natural immunity. Below are just a few important excerpts; the full letter can be found here.

“You have banned me from campus for at least the next year. I can show proof of immunity against SARS-CoV-2 but you will not allow me to enter buildings. But someone else can show a receipt saying that someone saw two needles go into their arm and you will allow them to enter. You actually have no idea if that person has immunity. There have even been reported cases of people accidentally or even intentionally (e.g. a case in Germany) being administered saline instead of the vaccine. Does it make sense to ban someone who is immune from campus but allow people who are presumed, but not confirmed, to be immune? This is a scenario that you have created. As a fellow academic, I am requesting that you provide me with a strong scientific rationale why you are allowing thousands with an unconfirmed immunity status onto our campus, but you are banning people like me who are known to have immunity. Further, please explain how you feel it is ethical to force COVID-19 vaccines on people who are uncomfortable with being coerced when you do not know their immunity status. Despite attempts to halt the spread of SARS-CoV-2 via masking and physical distancing, the reality is that the virus has not complied with these attempts to barricade it. Indeed, it has infected many people across Canada, many of whom may not have even realized it because it is not a dangerous pathogen for them. From the perspective of a medical risk-benefit analysis, this is a no-brainer. A medical procedure that adds no value but carries known and still-to-be-defined risks should never be mandated.”

“You have stated on numerous occasions that your COVID-19 policies have only been implemented after extensive consultation with local and regional experts. Interestingly, however, you have refused, for some unknown reason, to consult with any of the senior non-administrative immunologists on your campus. I would like to remind you that vaccinology is a sub-discipline of immunology. Notably, all three of us have offered repeatedly to serve on COVID-19 advisory committees, both on-campus and for our local public health unit, which also lacks advanced training in immunology and virology. The three of us have stayed on top of the cutting-edge scientific findings relevant to COVID-19 and meeting regularly with many national and international collaborative groups of scientists and physicians to debate and discuss what we are learning. I think it is notable that the senior non-administrative immunologists unanimously agree that COVID-19 vaccines should not be mandated for our campus based on extensive, legitimate scientific and safety reasons.”

“We live in an era where issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion are supposed to be at the forefront of all discussions at academic institutions. However, you are openly discriminating against and excluding a subset of our community that happens to be highly enriched with people engendered with critical thinking; a quality that we are supposed to be nurturing and promoting. With COVID-19 mandates, an environment has been created on our university campus that promotes hatred, bullying, segregation, and fear of a minority group whose only wrongdoing has been to maintain critical thinking and decision-making that is based on facts and common sense. I have yet to meet an anti-vaxxer on our campus. Everyone I know of is simply against the mismanagement of exceptionally poor-quality COVID-19 vaccines. History tells us that instilling fear of a minority group never ends well. This scenario must be rectified immediately if our campus is ever to return to a safe and secure working and learning environment for all.”