PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, USA (AP) – The colorful card, with pictures of syringes, urged people to attend Vax-Con ’21 to learn the “uncensored truth” about the COVID vaccine. -19.
People from across the country participated in a convention in Wisconsin Dells, which was a gathering to spread a pile of misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines and the pandemic. The main speaker was an anti-vaccine activist who appeared in last year’s film “Plandemic,” which brought a number of falsehoods about COVID-19 to the general public. In session after session, false claims about the danger of chinstraps and vaccines were discussed.
The convention was organized by a sector that has become a major source of misinformation during the pandemic: Chiropractors.
As the national director of health warns that misinformation endangers public health, an Associated Press investigation finds that an influential group of chiropractors has been sowing fear and mistrust of vaccines.
They promote their supplements as alternatives to vaccines, giving their patients notes that allow them to avoid the order to get vaccinated and wear masks, donating large sums to anti-vaccine organizations and selling anti-vaccine ads through Facebook and Instagram, according to the AP. . A chiropractor gave thousands of dollars to a political action committee that organized an anti-vaccine and pro-Donald Trump event near Congress on January 6, when the Capitol took place.
They also feature prominently at events to criticize vaccines like the one in Wisconsin, where hundreds of chiropractors from across the nation paid $ 299 or more to attend. The AP found that participants could receive educational credits that count toward periodic license renewals in at least 10 states.
Some are expressing alarm at the number of chiropractors who have joined the anti-vaccine movement and used their influence to undermine efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 700,000 people in the United States.
“People trust them and think they are a good alternative to traditional medicine,” said Erica DeWald of Vaccinate Your Family, an organization that studies the anti-vaccine movement. Traditional doctors send people to the chiropractor without knowing that it can expose them to misinformation. You go because your spine hurts and suddenly you no longer want to vaccinate your children ”.
Chiropractors who spread misinformation are a smaller percentage of the nation’s 70,000 professionals, many of whom promote vaccines. In some places, chiropractors have organized clinics to get vaccinated or have even been authorized to give the COVID-19 vaccine.
Chiropractors, on the other hand, are not the only members of the medical community associated with misinformation about COVID-19. Some doctors also spread false information about vaccines, to the point that a national organization representing state medical boards warned in July that those doctors could lose their licenses.
The pandemic, however, offered a new platform to a sector of chiropractors who have been speaking ill of vaccines even before the arrival of COVID-19, appealing to a 19th century thesis according to which medicine interferes with the natural flow. of energy through the body.
Old theories say that the body has a natural intelligence and can heal itself if it works properly. Chiropractic supposedly helps me do it. As a result, many chiropractors decline vaccinations and treat disease through spinal and musculoskeletal adjustments, as well as exercise and nutritional counseling.
Ben Tapper, a Nebraska chiropractor who criticizes drug companies and promotes mistrust of vaccines online, says he is told by some that he is a “charlatan” and has lost patients. Venmo and PaPal services closed their accounts.
He argues that vaccines have no place in what he calls the “wellness and prevention paradigm.”
“We stand up for our rights,” Tapper told the AP when asked why so many chiropractors participate in the anti-vaccine movement. “We defend our profession.”
The AP was unable to find statistics on vaccination rates for chiropractors. But the state of Oregon, which keeps track of vaccinated medical professionals, said the percentage of vaccinated chiropractors is much lower than that of the general population.
As of September 5, only 58% of chiropractors and 55% of their assistants had been vaccinated. For comparison, 96% of dentists, 92% of doctors, and 83% of nurses have been inoculated against COVID-19.
A Michigan chiropractor, Kyle McKamey, has a brochure saying to his patients: “If you want information about the dangers of vaccines and how to refuse them, let us know!”
McKamey offers his patients, and even those who are not, to write notes exempting them from getting vaccinated and wearing masks, according to a Facebook post spotted by the ABC affiliate in South Bend, Indiana.
In the post it said that, “as a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic, I have the same authority” as a doctor to write those notes. McCamey did not respond to messages asking for comment.
The AP also found that some chiropractors sell anti-vaccine ads on Facebook and Instagram. One of them included a link to videos full of disinformation.
The American Chiropractic Association has not set a position for or against vaccines.
———
Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Catalini from Trenton, NJ. Casey Smith and Lauran Neergard contributed to this report.
