Manitoba chiropractor cleared of misconduct after posting pro-vaccine news story

Carolyn Weiss didn't give it much thought when she posted a news article that spoke positively about vaccines on her personal Facebook.

It was January 2021 and COVID-19 vaccines were beginning to be administered across the country, sparking fierce public debate.

Little did the Selkirk, Man., based chiropractor know that post would be the start of an 18-month ordeal — one that put her career in jeopardy and led to a public inquiry that cost her thousands of dollars in legal fees before she was cleared of all wrongdoing.

All because the articles mentioned the word vaccines.

"I was confused and baffled," Weiss told CBC News. "I posted something that was general health information."

The complaint placed Weiss in the middle of an ongoing divide in the profession over vaccination and what can be said. 

The article she posted by the New York Times was titled "Underselling the Vaccine" and described how experts were being overly cautious when reporting their success rate.

With a master's degree in immunology, Weiss thought the article was interesting and wanted to pass it along to her many Facebook friends, which include immunologists and scientists, she told CBC News.

A fellow chiropractor — whose identity remains a secret to this day — saw it and reported her to the Manitoba Chiropractors Association, the regulatory body for her profession.

The association acts as both the regulator and primary advocacy group for chiropractors. Five people elected by fellow Manitoba chiropractors govern it, along with one member appointed by the board, and one appointed by the provincial government.

There's an internal conflict among chiropractors that splits them in two factions: the evidence-based practitioners and the more traditional ones, explained experts.

This divide plays itself out when it comes to vaccines, where the traditional sect often doesn't support vaccination, said Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor and a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy.

"It just shows this internal fight that is going on … they're struggling with how they should deal with vaccination and how they should speak to the public about vaccination," he said.

The result in Manitoba is a directive from the association made formal in 2017: chiropractors are not allowed to discuss vaccines with their clients because they are not within the scope of chiropractic practice.