Two Canadian universities now investigating vaccine skeptics

The University of Toronto has joined Queen’s University in investigating an instructor whose lectures have expressed skepticism with at least some aspects of vaccination policy. Beth Landau-Halpern, an instructor in Health Policy within the Department of Anthropology, is under scrutiny after the Toronto Globe and Mail published a story that described her as a homeopath who “promotes “ineffective ‘alternative vaccines’ and counsels patients about the dangers of immunization.” Since the Globe article, Landau-Halpern has been subject to a storm of criticism, including this letter from the Canadian Alliance to Support Immunization.

Last month, Melody Torcolacci, an instructor at Queen’s University took a leave of absence from the university after being accused, again in the Globe and Mail, of using slides in her teaching that betrayed an “anti-vaccination”perspective. She will be returning to the university in the fall, but teaching a different course. According to university’s provost, Alan Harrison, the charges against her may have been overblown. “The students who were there have told us that her presentation of the issues is more balanced than might have been present in the slides.”