June 2005

Vaccination in the news

Chiropractic and vaccination have again made the news. A June 7, 2005, Time magazine editorial criticizes chiropractors who advise patients to avoid vaccines.

In this article, “Chiropractors v. Vaccination,” (Leon Jaroff, a regular contributor to Time and — according to the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) — “a longtime chiropractic critic,” asserts that “a solid minority” of chiropractors are against vaccination and have “encouraged or advised their patients against having themselves or their children vaccinated.”

Jaroff referred to the ICA publication Vaccination: 100 Years of Orthodox Research Shows that Vaccines Represent a Medical Assault on the Immune System as a symbol of chiropractors’ general perspective on the medical profession.

In a letter to Time, ICA President John K. Maltby, DC, wrote:

“We are deeply disappointed by the shallow and incomplete depiction of the very serious issue of vaccination risk and injury, and the likewise incomplete representation of the position of this organization presented in your publication by Mr. Jaroff. … He certainly did not bother to research the ICA’s formal policy on vaccinations, which is as easy to find on our organization’s Web site, www.chiropractic.org, as the book to which he refers.”

Maltby said that the ICA’s official position on vaccination is to support “each individual’s right to select his or her own healthcare and to be made aware of the possible adverse effects of vaccines upon a human body. In accordance with such principles and based upon the individual’s right to freedom of choice, the ICA is opposed to compulsory programs which infringe upon such rights.”

“This is not a chiropractic issue,” Maltby said, “It is a public health and accountability issue. ICA’s policy is not one of opposition to or promotion of vaccination; it is one of informed consent and personal freedom.”

Source: International Chiropractors Association, www.chiropractic.org; Time Magazine, www.time.com

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