In recent years, clear battle lines have been drawn in the vaccine wars. On one side are the medical doctors and drug companies, who spend millions of dollars promoting the notion that universal vaccination programs are good for us. On the other side are the health care advocates who warn that injecting foreign bodies into our systems is not only ineffective but dangerous.

For years, chiropractors have been on the side of health care. They knew the best way to boost the human immune system was through subluxation correction. They were champions for the public's right to refuse to let themselves and their families be subjected to unwanted vaccine drugs.

Leaders such as the late Dr. Larry Webster, founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatrics Association, supported grassroots efforts to fight the medical profiteers. Publications such as The Chiropractic Journal provides information from the National Vaccine Information Center and its president, Barbara Loe Fisher.

They were the voice of reason in an age of medical insanity.

What's happened? That's the question being asked by more and more doctors of chiropractic who have witnessed the defection of several of their leaders, organizations, and companies.

The most disturbing defector might be the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), which claims to represent the profession even though its dwindling membership accounts for only a minority of licensed D.C.s in this country.

On its website (http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/qvacalt.htm) the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides information on alternatives to vaccine. Not surprisingly, it gives the standard medical response: the human body isn't good enough to stay healthy by itself. Without vaccines, we all face disease and death.

To support their position, they turn to their chiropractic allies.

"The American Chiropractic Association advises the public that vaccination has been shown to be a cost effective and clinically practical public health preventive procedure for certain viral and microbial diseases," the CDC explains.

Although the ACA also adds that vaccine use is "not without risk" the damage has been done. The implication is that chiropractors support artificial drug vaccinations.

The opposing viewpoints on the vaccine issue are most clearly evident in the positions of rival chiropractic professional liability insurance programs, OUM and Chiropractic Benefit Services (CBS).

The 1998 "Wellness" promotional calendar, distributed by OUM, gives monthly information on such topics as nutrition, stress reduction and exercise. Yet, it also devotes its entire October layout to promoting vaccines.

"Standardized immunization programs have helped to control many childhood diseases, such as diphtheria, smallpox, measles, whooping cough, and polio, that were once a threat to the lives of many children at the turn of the century," the OUM calendar reads. "There is very little risk involved in getting immunized, and the benefits are substantial. Make sure your child receives the immunizations that are recommended by healthcare officials."

It concludes with a even stronger push for the vaccine manufacturing industry: "And remember, immunizations aren't just for children. New vaccines are being developed all the time. Consult your physician for more information on boosters and vaccinations recommended for adults."

This overt promotion of vaccines is accompanied by a large color photograph of a medical doctor preparing an injection for a smiling child as a trusting mother looks on.

Chiropractic is never even mentioned in the calendar, which appears to be directed at health consumers.

Contrasting this medical attitude is CBS, whose founder and president, Dr. Terry A. Rondberg, D.C., recently wrote a scathing expose of the failures of modern medicine -- including its vaccine programs.

Whenever engaged in public education, Dr. Rondberg includes information about the risks of vaccines and the necessity for chiropractic in building a healthy system.

His efforts have won over numerous converts, including many staff members at Schaefer-Smith-Ankeney, the insurance brokerage which administers the CBS program. Although unfamiliar with chiropractic when they first met Dr. Rondberg, many of the staffers now gather for regular adjustments whenever he visits.

"My mission isn't merely to do business with them," he says. "It's to make them part of the chiropractic team by sharing with them my understanding of and enthusiasm for chiropractic."

He also discusses the vaccine issue whenever possible.

"I never tell people they shouldn't get vaccines for themselves or their children," Rondberg states. "I tell them I am opposed to mandatory vaccinations. And I tell them the facts about the risks involved, as well as the alternatives. I make them aware of the drug industry's multi-billion dollar incentive for pushing vaccines. And I let them know their legal rights concerning vaccines. I have enough faith in their intelligence to make their own informed decision."

Rondberg said he also reminds people that, in 1986, Congress passed a law to compensate individuals who had been seriously injured by vaccines. By 1997, almost a billion dollars had been awarded to more than 1,000 victims.

Timothy Feuling, vice president of the World Chiropractic Alliance and marketing director of CBS, points out that the same difference in perspective shows up in other activities of the insurance companies. CBSm for instance, supports subluxation-based research, including a study of the impact of subluxations on the human immune system.

"In addition, we use our profits to support the development of subluxation-oriented, evidence-based guidelines rather than pump more of the profession's money into the Mercy guidelines," Feuling adds.

But nowhere, perhaps, is the difference between OUM and CBS more evident than on the vaccine issue.