conflict among chiropractors over whether to vaccinate against coronavirus the conflict among chiropractors has become more consequential as the delta variant of the coronavirus spreads and the rate of new vaccinations slowscreditbryan anselm for the new york timesjuly 14 2021anyone who listened to the idaho chiropractor steven bakers podcast in may would have heard a cornucopia of misinformation about the coronavirus and the vaccines protecting hundreds of millions of people against itin an episode titled are the vaccinated people dangerous they arent he claimed that scientists had never identified the whole virus they have that the vaccines turned people into modernday zombies who spewed spike proteins in every breath and body fluid they dont and that vaccinated people could disrupt the menstrual cycles of women around them they cantso dr baker said he had a new policy if any patients made what i would consider a horribly poor decision to go get this shot he would not allow them inside his office for 30 daysdr baker who didnt respond to a request for comment doesnt represent all chiropractors many of whom support vaccinations but he is among a vocal cadre who have promoted doubts about the coronavirus vaccines online and in their clinics and in the process exposed a longstanding split within the professionon one side are people like him who dismiss the overwhelming medical consensus that the vaccines are effective and safe these chiropractors closely follow the ideas espoused more than a century ago by the professions founder daniel david palmer who rejected germ theory and believed that diseases were caused by spinal misalignments called subluxations that disrupted an innate life forcethe chiropractic profession which involves adjustment of the spine through manual manipulation and is sometimes just called chiropractic emerged from this vitalistic almost supernatural idea of healing said timothy caulfield the canada research chair in health law and policy at the university of alberta its difficult for them to escape their roots and i think thats one of the reasons that so many people continue to be attracted to chiropractic who are more likely to be vaccination hesitant and why so many chiropractic practitioners are in fact vaccination hesitantimagecreditkim kyunghoonreuterson the other side are chiropractors who have called on their peers to encourage vaccination as recommended by the centers for disease control and prevention and other medical authorities in a 2013 paper in the journal of the canadian chiropractic association for example four chiropractors wrote that by recommending vaccines as clinically indicated the chiropractic profession would promote the public good and by doing so would be in a better position to be embraced by the broader health care communitythat paper said one of its authors brian gleberzon a professor at canadian memorial chiropractic college is still relevantas the delta variant of the coronavirus spreads and the rate of new vaccinations slows the conflict within the profession has become more consequential the united states is administering about 530000 doses per day on average compared with a peak of more