Whitewashing the Pandemic: How Richard Brown and the WFC Are Erasing the Immunity Suppression Scandal
Originally published: 2025-08-07
In a recent interview, outgoing WFC Secretary-General Richard Brown minimized the global backlash over the WFC’s chiropractic’s COVID-era immunity crackdown, revealing just how deep the WFC’s alignment with the WHO and public health orthodoxy really goes.
A Conversation Worth Unpacking
In episode #041 of TAC Tic Talk—a podcast produced by The American Chiropractor—hosts Dr. Joe Bush and Jacqueline Tousard sat down with Dr. Richard Brown, the outgoing Secretary-General of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC).
The interview, titled “A Conversation with Dr. Richard Brown,” was meant as a victory lap for Brown’s tenure. But what it really revealed was something more disturbing: a complete whitewash of the WFC’s most controversial act during the COVID-19 era, the silencing of chiropractic’s role in immunity.
“There was some controversy... most of that has gone by the wayside, everyone’s back on the same page.” Dr. Richard Brown, Secretary-General of the WFC, on chiropractors’ COVID-era claims about immunity
Erasing the Immunity Crackdown
In the brief exchange touching on the scandal, the podcast host alludes vaguely to “some controversy… with the Research Council.” Brown, rather than addressing the global outrage, mass resignations, and sponsor withdrawals that followed the WFC’s Rapid Review on Immunity, responded with evasive generalities about “uncharted territory” during the pandemic.
What was conveniently left unsaid:
That the WFC’s immunity report was weaponized by regulators to shut down chiropractors across the globe.
That six members of the WFC Research Committee resigned in protest after helping write the very document used against their peers.
That 17 sponsors, including major institutions and malpractice providers, withdrew support from the WFC.
That the WFC’s document was used to justify censorship, legal threats, and public humiliation of chiropractors who dared to suggest that nervous system function impacts immune response.
“Whitewashing this episode isn’t leadership. It’s historical revisionism.”
Promoting the WHO Agenda
While the immunity scandal was casually swept aside, Brown took great pride in highlighting the WFC’s growing entanglement with the World Health Organization (WHO):
The WFC is a founding member of the WHO’s World Rehabilitation Alliance.
It helped develop the WHO’s Benchmark for Training in Chiropractic, a document Brown admits was funded by the WFC but authored by WHO bureaucrats.
Brown lauded the WFC’s alignment with competency-based education models used in medicine, pharmacy, and nursing, signaling chiropractic’s full assimilation into the biomedical mainstream. Yet, he says nothing about the NBCE Part IV Gravy Train. Is that because the WFC is now working with the NBCE?
Notably absent from the discussion? Any acknowledgment that the WHO’s pandemic policies, lockdowns, mandates, and vaccine enforcement, were fiercely opposed by many in the chiropractic profession, especially those practicing in a vitalistic, subluxation-based model.
“Brown didn’t just support the WHO—he helped bankroll their chiropractic compliance manual.”
From Crackdown to Cover-Up
Under Brown’s leadership, the WFC released a “rapid review” during COVID that concluded there was “no credible evidence” for any link between chiropractic care and immune function. This document was widely circulated, praised by subluxation deniers, and used as a weapon to file complaints against chiropractors who remained open or discussed immunity online.
Brown, along with Parker University's Katherine Pohlman, its President Bill Morgan and ACA leaders, helped shape a false narrative that not only denied the immune implications of chiropractic care but also encouraged regulatory actions against practitioners who spoke to the public about it.
Meanwhile, the WFC brazenly endorsed a vibrating massage chair, claiming it would “rejuvenate your entire body,” “prevent spinal stress,” and promote “wellness”—with no credible evidence cited. One standard for them, another for principled chiropractors.
“We must eradicate from the profession those peddling pseudo-religious systems of so-called care, who prey on the vulnerable...”
— Richard Brown, WFC Secretary-General, referring to subluxation-centered chiropractors
Brown’s Words Reveal the WFC’s True Mission
Throughout his tenure, Richard Brown made no secret of his contempt for chiropractors focused on vertebral subluxation. In multiple articles and speeches, he:
Called subluxation-focused practitioners “evangelists,” “cultists,” and “one-trick ponies”
Referred to their practices as “pseudo-religious systems”
Urged their “eradication” from the profession
Argued for prescribing rights so chiropractors could compete in the marketplace with physiotherapists
Praised WHO pandemic policies and promoted COVID vaccines, stating: “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
Brown’s approach aligned perfectly with the WHO’s allopathic health agenda, including WFC’s involvement in developing WHO’s benchmark document on chiropractic education, a tool that will likely marginalize subluxation-based models under the guise of “competency-based education.”
Where Was TAC? Missing in Action
The interview hosts at TAC Tic Talk missed a crucial opportunity to challenge Brown. Instead of asking tough questions about:
The abuse of the immunity report,
The suppression of dissent,
The global consequences for chiropractors under investigation,
Or the WFC’s promotion of WHO-backed vaccine and lockdown policies...
...they brushed it all aside as “a little controversy” that had “gone by the wayside.” while fawning over Brown.
“This wasn’t journalism. It was public relations for the Cartel.”
The Real Legacy: Chiropractic Silenced
While Brown spoke of “integration,” “collaboration,” and “global impact,” his actual legacy is clear:
Suppression of the profession’s foundational philosophy.
Collaboration with external authorities hostile to chiropractic’s identity.
Promotion of flawed research used to punish chiropractors during the most volatile public health crisis in a century.
The WFC and its leadership didn’t defend the profession during COVID, they delivered it to the regulators on a silver platter.
“When the world needed chiropractic leadership, the WFC and its supporters offered surrender instead.”
Final Thoughts: We Won’t Forget
Brown may retire, and TAC may try to reframe the narrative, but those who were censored, investigated, and threatened for standing by the connection between chiropractic and immune function won’t forget what happened, and they won’t let it be buried under polite applause.
Let this interview serve as a reminder of the real agenda behind “integration” and “global collaboration.” The question now is whether the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) will continue to fund and endorse the organization that worked so hard to erase its very existence.
