ARE ANNUAL VACCINATIONS REALLY NECESSARY?

In 1992, Drs. Schultz & Phillips (Scripps Institute) write in Kirk’s Current Veterinary Therapy, Vol 11, page 205, saying “A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunological requirement for annual revaccination…The practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considered of questionable efficacy…”

Why has it taken so long to begin to change veterinary opinion when the facts have been known for years?  DO NOT let your current veterinarian vaccinate your animals for anything except the legally required Rabies every 3 years (financially support the Rabies Challenge Fund with consulting with the Yahoo Just Say no to Vaccines list, Dr. Schultz, Dr. Dodds, or your own (you should have one) holistically trained integrative veterinarian.

Dr. Schultz himself vaccinates his dogs as puppies for only distemper and parvo, then only Rabies the rest of their lives. Even Rabies vaccine is probably good for life, since it is a viral vaccine. The tests done by the vaccine manufacturers on the required 7 dogs (only 7), were carried out only at three years post vaccine. If they had tested dogs longer post vaccine, rabies may be good for life.

Studies are currently underway with both dogs and cats who were vaccinated as kittens and puppies and are now ten to thirteen years old and have protective levels of antibodies in their blood.  There have been several international vaccination conferences and as a result, first the American Feline Practitioners Association and now the AMVA and the AAHA recommend that cats and dogs be vaccinated every three years for the core of diseases.  They admit there is no scientific evidence for repeating the vaccine at three years and many veterinary colleges are recommending individually evaluating every animal for their potential risk of getting the disease vaccinated for versus developing long term chronic diseases. CornellUniversityhas a “VAX program” to evaluate titers because so many people are concerned with adverse reactions and compromised health in their pets.

The American Association of Feline Practitioners and the Academy of Feline Medicine have set up an Advisory Panel on Feline Vaccines, and the panel recommends panleuk, calici and rhino be given every three years rather than annually.

More information on the necessity of vaccines is in my Report.