Alberta professor and Covid-19 vaccine influencer Tim Caulfield blocked a debate moderator on Twitter after she shared an open letter from vaccine critic Byram Bridle challenging Caulfield to a debate. 

In 2022, Caulfield, a University of Alberta law professor, received $1.5 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to tackle Covid-19 misinformation “in a timely and accessible way.” 

Bridle, a vaccinologist, is suing the University of Guelph and several professors for tortious conduct against him since he’s become an outspoken critic of the vaccine.

“As public servants, I think it would be in the best interest of the public to begin to allow experts with different opinions to be heard in respectful exchanges about COVID-19,” Bridle wrote in an open letter to Caulfield.

“This would help the public sort through the vast array of complex scientific data.”

Debate moderator Abir Ballan, an author and public health professional, shared Bridle’s letter with Caulfield on Twitter. Shortly after, Ballan was blocked from viewing the professor’s account.

Caulfield, who continues to smear vaccine critics as “anti-vaxxers,” has 85,000 followers on Twitter. He regularly posts pro-vaccine information in line with the directives of his publicly funded grant. 

On Friday, Caulfield retweeted an article by the Washington Post arguing the Covid booster is “safe.” 

Last week, vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit said it’s time to stop giving boosters to everyone. 

Earlier this month, oncology professor Gus Dalgleish suggested boosters are leading to cancer relapses among his patients. 

Moreover, a preprint study published last month found a direct correlation between vaccines and Covid infection rates. The more vaccines one received, the more likely one was to be infected with Covid.

“The association of increased risk of COVID-19 with higher numbers of prior vaccine doses in our study, was unexpected,” researchers concluded.