Vocal Anti-Vaccine Chiropractors Split the Profession

Mr. Bogash also expressed frustration “that prior Covid infection is completely not part of the discussion, despite every evidence to support the fact that natural immunity is stronger and longer lasting than acquired immunity.” (Research indicates that the vaccines are likely to create stronger and more reliable immunity, particularly against variants.)

Without mentioning vaccines, Dawn Benton, executive vice president of the California Chiropractic Association, said chiropractors were “well trained in the recognition of conditions that are outside of our scope so that we can determine when a patient is best treated in our office or by another health care professional.”

“Given our training,” she said, “there are times when a doctor of chiropractic can appropriately comment on many medical topics, and we leave the decision on that up to each individual doctor of chiropractic and the regulations they practice under.”

Only two of the 11 organizations reached — the Delaware Chiropractic Society and the Washington State Chiropractic Association — said directly that chiropractors should refer patients to medical doctors for questions on medical subjects.

“Providing clinical advice on out-of-scope topics would violate numerous statutes and regulations governing health care licensees,” said Jeff Curwen, the executive director of the Washington association. “Chiropractors can and should discuss with their patients how nonchiropractic treatments may affect their chiropractic care, but they should always refer those patients to the appropriate provider type for specific answers to out-of-scope questions.”

Some practitioners, though, have shared inaccurate or unsourced information without prompting.

On his website, Greg Werner, a chiropractor in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y., claims that there is no proof vaccines work and that germ theory “doesn’t exist” because “if it did EVERYONE would be sick ALL the time.” (He declined an interview request.)

A New Jersey chiropractor, J. Zimmerman, has routinely cited figures on his blog from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System — a federal database to which anyone can report health problems after vaccination — and suggested that vaccines caused the problems reported. He did not mention the C.D.C.’s disclaimer — “A report to VAERS does not mean that the vaccine caused the adverse event, only that the adverse event occurred some time after vaccination” — in his posts until after The New York Times emailed him questions about his use of VAERS.