4333 Should Chiropractors Provide COVID Vaccinations? 80% Say "No!"
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Dynamic Chiropractic – January 1, 2022, Vol. 40, Issue 01

Should Chiropractors Provide COVID Vaccinations? 80% Say "No!"

By Editorial Staff

The American Chiropractic Association's (ACA's) 2021 Q1 Lobbying Report revealed that one of its specific lobbying issues is "urging HHS (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) to consider doctors of chiropractic to administer COVID-19 vaccines."1 This revelation sparked a profession-wide survey by Dynamic Chiropractic to assess what percentage of doctors agree with the ACA's actions.2

With 1,136 responses, four of five doctors of chiropractic do not agree with the ACA's lobbying focus. Almost 40 percent (444) of those who voted provided comments along with their response to the question. Below are a sample of those comments, representing the same proportion of positive and negative responses and providing insight into DCs' opinions on this contentious topic:

  • "Vaccinations are a medical procedure and are outside the scope of chiropractic and not permitted under most state laws."
  • "With the profession already so limited in its role on what healthcare we can provide, any expansion of our services ought to be supported. As chiropractic now stands, we risk further isolation, stagnation, and a decline toward extinction."
  • survy results - Copyright – Stock Photo / Register Mark "Uncertain of potential long-term effects from this injection – potential harm is possible and may outweigh the benefit of this treatment."
  • "Chiropractors should focus their time and energy staying true to the primary focus of their training and not venture into medicine's domain."
  • "Absolutely not. While I am in favor of the vaccination, there is no way I would want to add that liability in my office. Chiropractors are scrutinized enough and I feel this would only lend itself to more of it, especially since we do not have formal training in administering medication, especially in the form of an injection. As a long-time ACA member, I am irritated that you would spend funds (which we all know are short in our account) on a vote* as to whether or not DCs should administer vaccinations. Let's stay in our wheelhouse, where we are experts."
  • "This is absolutely absurd. Doctors of chiropractic should NOT be giving Covid vaccinations. Those vaccines have not been proven to be safe, NOR effective."
  • "The majority of the U.S. population is already vaccinated or is able to conveniently receive a vaccination for no cost at numerous locations. The unvaccinated have made a personal choice [to] not receive a vaccine. Positioning DCs to provide the vaccine, which is a temporary need with long-term repercussions, doesn't improve access or materially change the vaccination rate, yet raises numerous concerns among various stakeholders (e.g., MDs, medical boards, patients, etc.) re: scope of practice expansion. Better to be 100% focused on positioning DCs as the preferred initial point of contact for spine-related disorders – far more upside on public health contribution (e.g., less opioids), improving healthcare value, and patient volume for DCs. Applying a drug goes against the tenets of chiropractic."
  • "This isn't even close to what chiropractors should be doing!"
  • "This is why I don't give money to the ACA (Anti-Chiropractic Association). Chiropractors are not medical doctors. Stop trying to sell us out like the osteopaths did. Start doing something useful for the profession and maybe I will start donating to this currently corrupt organization."
  • "This action does not represent the culture of chiropractic and is outside of our scope of practice. We cannot keep adding/blending the medical paradigm into our profession, otherwise the foundation on which it stands will progressively crumble."
  • "If we can be adequately trained to do this simple administration, as primary health care providers, we should be able to offer this. However, could there be a more divisive issue in the profession than this? In the end, it comes down to how you see yourself in the healthcare field: are you part of a collaborative effort, or do you see yourself as an alternative?"
  • "Absolutely Not. Chiropractors should not be administering Covid 19 vaccinations. The Chiropractic Philosophy is based on natural health methods and therefore we need to stay out of the pharmaceutical arena. Most importantly, why would any Chiropractor want to start giving a vaccine that is in emergency use and has not been tested for long-term side effects? Besides, the fact that there is no control group in this global experiment is very troubling. This saddens me. If Chiropractors want to go down this road, I'm afraid we will lose our identity as the leader of natural health care without the use of drugs or surgery. Let's get real, Chiropractic!!"
  • "Has the ACA lost its soul? Chiropractic is a non-drug, non-surgical profession. If one wants to be a medical doctor, go to medical or osteopathic school and get that type of license. D.D. and B.J. are turning in their graves."
  • "While my personal choice has been to not undergo the jab due to natural immunity, I support advanced scope of practice into injections and prescriptive rights for the chiropractic profession. The way the question is phrased, I suspect will undoubtedly draw a large ‘No' response from respondents."
  • "There is no need for DCs to administer vaccines, as there is no shortage of personnel that are available for the service. Also, administering vaccines goes against everything that the art, science and philosophy of the chiropractic profession has taught for its entire existence. This will also affect professional liability premiums in many cases."
  • "Are you kidding me? If you or your association feel that better health will EVER be gained exogenously, then you are clearly in the wrong profession. Our chiropractic brothers and sisters that came before us would be rolling in their graves if they only knew that this question is even being whispered. They put the chiropractic profession on the map during the 1918 flu epidemic by doing what we do best. Question: Do you think they were lining up to provide ‘medicine' or masks? Shame on you, ACA!"
  • "Regardless if you are for or against vaccines, this is a great opportunity to further the profession's reach into the medical community. I foresee much controversy over the issue. It is not necessarily about what WE as CHIROPRACTORS believe. The public has other beliefs and views on health care, and if we are to support medical freedoms and want the right to choose or refuse a vaccine, then maybe this would allow us to communicate that message better to patients if we were allowed to do so. Sometimes the right choice does not please everyone or make the most friends, but I believe that [it] is a good step to further the profession. Written by a student, 4th generation."
  • "This is an appropriate time to use the expression ‘stay in your lane.' Let's stay in our lane. We're not MDs. What we do and offer is unique; let's embrace it. Let them do their thing."
  • DC's shouldn't be part of the problem. We need to educate people on how to support their immune systems, not be part of the [mainstream] thinking that we must be given an experimental biological agent to protect ourselves. It sends the wrong message."
  • "It opposes everything that the profession was built on and stands for. This will be the demise of the profession."

* This survey was conducted by Dynamic Chiropractic; the ACA did not commission or spend any funds supporting it.

References

  1. ACA Lobbying Report, 2021 Q1; filed 4/13/21.
  2. "Should DCs Provide the COVID Vaccine?" Dynamic Chiropractic, Nov. 1, 2021.

Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email .

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