Vinita Dubey

Dr. Vinita Dubey is an Adjunct Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto with focus on vaccines, Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health, Member of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), and Member of the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee (OIAC).

As a member of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), Dubey is involved in the Federal Government of Canada’s decision making process regarding COVID-19 vaccine policies.¹⁾ She receives compensation from NACI in the form of travel expenses.^{2) 3)}

Dubey sits on the Behavioural Science Working Group on the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. She and other behavioural scientists were selected “based on their specific expertise in behaviour change, spanning behavioural medicine, health, clinical and social psychology, behavioural economics, and implementation science. Public Health leaders joining the group were invited based on their expertise in promoting health-protective behaviours and vaccination.”⁴⁾

Indeed, Dubey co-authored the October 26, 2021 Science Brief titled “Behavioural Science-Informed Strategies for Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Children and Youth”, advocating for several psychological influence strategies to encourage the largest possible number of children 5-11 to “accept” a COVID-19 injection.⁵⁾

Dubey is a member of the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee (OIAC), formed in August 2021 at the request of Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore. “The focus of the Committee’s work is on publicly-funded vaccines and immunization programs in Ontario, including COVID-19, and those under consideration for new programming.”⁶⁾ The committee operates under Public Health Ontario.

Dubey has been employed by Toronto Public Health as Associate Medical Officer of Health since 2006, in Communicable Diseases.⁷⁾ She works under Eileen De Villa, who has familial financial ties to pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Novartis, Sanofi and Servier.^{8) 9) 10)}

Dubey has appeared on public platforms multiple times to advocate for restrictive public health measures and COVID-19 vaccine products, as well as vaccine passports. She also warned against treating COVID-19.

• In June 2021, she delivered a presentation on behalf of Toronto Public Health titled “COVID-19 Vaccines: Building Trust and Confidence”. The presentation specifically claimed the shots are safe and important “for those with autism, ADHD, heart or kidney conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure, auto-immune disorders, asthma, allergies and pregnant or breastfeeding,” as well as people who have already recovered from COVID-19, children aged 12 and older, and “Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities”. She also advocates for people to use ”Fact Checkers“ to confirm information around COVID-19 vaccines.¹¹⁾
• In August 2021, Dubey appeared in her role as Associate Medical Officer of Health for a “Coronavirus Q&A” on CityNews' YouTube channel. A commenter noted that her focus on “behaviour change” and “vaccine hesitancy” was concerning.¹²⁾
• She appeared again on a CityNews video published October 20, 2021 called “Ask Me Anything with Toronto’s Assoc. Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vinita Dubey”. When asked about therapeutics to treat COVID-19 as opposed to relying solely on vaccination, Dubey stated that she “definitely [does] not recommend Ivermectin” as there is “no evidence that some of those drugs like Ivermectin help to treat Covid”, and that “it can be a very dangerous drug when not used properly.”¹³⁾
• One week later, she reappeared for a similarly titled video published October 27, 2021 on CityNews' YouTube channel. In this video, she asserted that Ontario would not be recognizing any religious exemptions to the vaccine passport program, which the interviewer Dilshad Burman described as “wonderful”.¹⁴⁾

Dubey is an Adjunct Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research interests are “Immunization and Vaccine Preventable Diseases,” and her current research Projects as of November 2021 are “HPV school-based vaccination implementation”, “Vaccine Storage and Handling”, “Local vaccination Coverage rates”, and “Vaccine hesitancy”.¹⁵⁾

She is also a member of the HELPinKids&Adults team, a group that advises medical practitioners and institutions on reducing pain during vaccination. Their partners include the Canadian Nursing Coalition for Immunization (CNCI), Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPA), Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA), College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), Immunize Canada, Canadian Center for Vaccinology, and the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).¹⁶⁾ The group is also associated with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Brighton Collaboration, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), CANVax, Kids Boost Immunity (funded by Pfizer, Merck, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, CANImmunize and others).

Dubey’s relevant research publications discussing vaccine hesitancy, uptake strategies and conflicts of interest include:

• March 2, 2021: Is ‘conflict of interest’ a Misnomer? Managing interests in immunization research and evaluation.¹⁷⁾

• July 9, 2020: “It takes time to build trust”: a survey Ontario’s school-based HPV immunization program ten years post-implementation.¹⁸⁾
  • Funded by a grant from the Canadian Immunization Research Network, which is itself funded by Pfizer, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.¹⁹⁾

• May 21, 2019: Characteristics of immunized and un-immunized students, including non-medical exemptions, in Ontario, Canada: 2016–2017 school year.²⁰⁾
  • Funded by Public Health Ontario.

• March 2019: Addressing vaccine hesitancy: Clinical guidance for primary care physicians working with parents.²¹⁾

• 2009: Psychological interventions for reducing pain and distress during routine childhood immunizations: a systematic review.²²⁾
  • Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

• March 23, 2016: Exposure-based Interventions for the management of individuals with high levels of needle fear across the lifespan: a clinical practice guideline and call for further research.²³⁾
  • Endorsed/supported by:
    • Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA), which is itself funded by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Seqirus, VBI Vaccines, GlaxoSmithKline and various others.
    • Immunize Canada, which is itself sponsored by Pfizer, Moderna, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Seqirus.²⁴⁾
    • Canadian Center for Vaccinology, which is running clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine products by Moderna, VBI Vaccines, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, as well as other COVID-related studies with Sinai Health System, Dalhousie University and other pro-vaccination entities.

• 2011: Practices and Perceptions Regarding Pain and Pain Management during Routine Childhood Immunizations: Findings from a Focus-Group Study with Nurses Working at Toronto Public Health, Ontario.²⁵⁾