To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate?

The following article was composed by Rachel Peeples.

I think that we take for granted the low levels of many diseases that have been brought about through the use of vaccines.  As more people elect not to vaccinate at all, there is undoubtedly going to be a resurgence in some of these diseases which will put unvaccinated dogs at even greater risk for developing disease.  So right now not vaccinating carries a moderate risk but I can foresee in the future the risk being much higher as more people don't vaccinate.

At the same time, I can certainly agree with the arguments that yearly vaccines may do more harm than good in some cases.  Once again, you are playing the chance game -- is my pet more likely to suffer from a disease because I don't vaccinate or suffer from consequences of vaccination?  For epileptic dogs, I think one can reasonably argue that the vaccinations do more harm than good.  But for a normal healthy dog?  I don't know if a reasonable argument can be made.  I am still open to arguments though -- for not vaccinating at all.

Does this mean that I think all dogs should be vaccinated yearly?  Nope.  For most dogs and owners this is the simplest route to go and causes little if any trouble.   For breeds predisposed to vaccine reactions (like Akitas) and for owners willing to take the time and money to do titer testing, however,  I see absolutely nothing wrong (and in fact think it is the proper thing to do which is why I do Zen (my Akita) this way) with doing yearly titer checks and vaccinating only
when necessary.  There are some questions about titers but the most recent evidence and information I have suggests that there is a level for a given disease that can be considered protective.  If the titer is below that vaccinate, if above that don't.   Increasingly more laboratories are capable of doing numerical titers for parvo and distemper (and I am sure others but I know of these two).

Puppies absolutely need to be vaccinated or they will be a risk for getting the disease.   The only way to achieve immunity to a disease is to be exposed to the organism/toxin (naturally or in a vaccine) that causes the disease and to develop antibodies against it.  Even the most efficient immune system takes 2 to 3 weeks to develop sufficient levels of antibodies to a new disease to fight off the organism.   Thus, even the most healthy pup with the most efficient immune system cannot immediately fight off infection by a new organism (new in the sense that the puppy's body has never encountered it before).  Right now we can get by, MAYBE, depending on where you live with having naive (i.e. unvaccinated) animals.  But as stated earlier as more and more people stop vaccinating these disease will resurge and then these naive animals will have absolutely no protection from these diseases.  And in many places feral and uncared for pets keep the environmental disease contamination sufficiently high to infect a healthy but unvaccinated pup.   So please think long and hard before not giving the full
vaccination series to a puppy.

The three year rotating vaccination schedule will certainly work for Rabies (rabies vaccines are proven to give a three year immunity) but assumes that other vaccines will also confer three year immunity.  In some dogs they do and in some they don't.   Dogs that are routinely challenged (i.e., go around other dogs or in places where there is a low level of the disease organism) receive mini-boosters and will keep immunity longer than those kept isolated or only around a select few dogs.  I have heard a few reports concerning dogs that got Disease X after being vaccinated for Disease X only 18 or 20 months in the past.  I think most times the assumption of 3-year immunity holds true but not always.  Again, it is a balancing game -- which is the worst result-risk and do the opposite.

And I do think that as dogs get older and their immune system decline in efficacy that more attention needs to be paid to titers and vaccinations.  Older dogs can get all these disease especially distemper.

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