Today, the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia finally came out in support of immunisation, giving a backhander to long-time ally, the anti-vaccination organisation, the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network in the process:
It has come to our attention that the Australian Vaccination-sceptics Network contains a link to the CAA National website. We have requested that they remove this link to our website as a matter of urgency.
The Chiropractors’ Association of Australia (CAA) does not support the views promoted by the Australian Vaccination-sceptics Network. We have also informed them that the CAA has adopted the following policy on immunisation:
“The CAA supports the Australian government’s view that immunisation is an important health care initiative. It is outside the scope of practice for chiropractors. When considering immunisation, patients should consult with either their GP or Maternal and Child Health Nurse for further information.”
When providing chiropractic care to infants and young children, practitioners must have a good understanding of the principles of public health including disease prevention and health promotion.
Congratulations, CAA. It’s been a long, hard road for you; but, you still need to divest yourselves of your anti-vaccination members, former presidents, and former board members*.
Of course, none of this would have happened unless evidence-based chiropractors — mostly within the new association, Chiropractic Australia — rose up and spoke against the crackpots in the profession.
Now, about those subluxations…
*This comment by the AVN’s Meryl Dorey was made to an evidence-based chiropractor in December 2016. Just two months ago, Meryl Dorey was mocking a chiropractor for supporting immunisation:
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Update February 7 2017
Overnight, Meryl Dorey published a scathing attack on the CAA:
The blog post contained the following:
I have spoken with the AVN Committee and to date, nobody from the CAA has contacted them about removing any link. In addition, since I was the one who set up the AVN’s web page and their links (medical, natural health and general), I can tell you that for many years, the CAA link has been reciprocal – in other words, they linked to the AVN and the AVN linked to the CAA.
Are the leaders of the chiropractic profession in Australia now guilty of cowardice? When their founder, Daniel David Palmer, felt so committed to the health of his patients that he spent time in prison in their defence, have his descendants strayed so far from their roots that their income has now become more important than their morals and knowledge?
Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I revere the chiropractic profession. My family’s healthcare provider has been a chiropractor for the last 25 years. But when I see that profession so afraid to hold to the courage of their convictions that they are willing to allow their patients to make decisions based only on information they themselves disagree with, I have to ask whether their usefulness as a healing modality is in its last days?
In the comments, underneath her blog post, Dorey also stated:
I…have received email messages from chiropractors who say that they left the CAA years ago due to their drifting towards repression and tyranny. What a shame that so many chiropractors are not well-informed about this vital issue.
Today, the CAA issued this blunt statement:
Ouch.
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