Vaccinations

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Hi All,

As you all know I am as concerned as they come about health with our 
animals, and providing you information about proper care and 
precaution.  Most of you know that I believe that moderation is always the 
safest route with anything.  I have been concerned about over vaccination 
for a long time, and I have read a great deal on this subject as well as 
separating out the vaccines.  It's my opinion that our average 
veterinarians do not do enough to educate not only themselves but their 
clients on vaccinations.  Vaccinations are used in many practices to get 
you in the door yearly for a check up.  While I agree that a check up is a 
good thing, I do not agree that yearly our dogs and cat's need to be 
vaccinated.

For a long time I have been searching for a clear concise simple piece to 
support my position.  The following two pieces which I copy pasted from a 
post on a raw list I belong to.  These pieces are direct quotes from the 
noted College and the Professors.

In addition several of the Veterinary Med Colleges have released new 
vaccination protocols in the past few years, that suggest that while there 
are no studies  [see why below] that we are over doing vaccinations and 
that it may be safe for most dogs to go to a three year protocol.  I am 
suggesting to you that each of you explore this information, based on the 
below and analyzing the exposure of your dogs and cats to environmental 
factors beyond just asking your vet.

IIene has been collecting some sites from vet schools that have new 
published protocols so perhaps when she gets home from this weekend shows 
she can post us with her info.

  So with that said here you go:


According to Colorado State Univ. Veterinary Medicine Teaching College :

"The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University is preparing
to make significant changes in its recommended vaccination protocols for dogs
and cats. As these recommendations apparently were a surprise to many
veterinary practitioners in our referral base, the following will hopefully
clarify the rationale for changing our vaccination program. Internal medicine
specialists at Colorado State University have been invited to participate
with organizations such as the American Association of Feline Practitioners
and the AVMA sponsored task force on vaccine associated sarcomas for the last
several years to help review vaccination protocols nationwide in light of new
information.
1The information that lead to Colorado State University’s decision to make
changes in its dog and cat vaccination programs resulted from an extensive
review of the veterinary literature on the subject and from interactions with
the previously mentioned groups. While this information is available in the
veterinary literature, it is scattered throughout different journals and
textbooks and has been gathered from many studies performed over the years.
The following brief review provides a summary of this information.Recently,
several papers have been published in widely available veterinary journals
that help define the current issues concerning vaccination of dogs and cats.
1-5 These papers are excellent sources of information for small animal
practitioners and should help clarify most issues concerning dog and cat
vaccine controversies. If you do not have access to these papers, please
contact the CVMA office to obtain copies. In general, there is mounting
information that suggests vaccines are not always safe and that duration of
immunity against many of the life-threatening infections is longer than
previously thought. The following are answers to commonly asked questions
concerning Colorado State University’s dog and cat vaccination
recommendations along with pertinent references.
1. What information is available indicating that vaccines are not 100 percent
safe?
Sarcomas (prevalence of 1-10/100,000) are known to develop at vaccine sites
in cats.6-18
Immune medicated hemolytic anemia (70 % are fatal) can occur secondary to
vaccination in dogs.19
Immune mediated thrombocytopenia can occur secondary to modified live virus
vaccination.20
Immune mediated polyarthritis can occur after vaccinaation.21
2. What information is available documenting duration of immunity induced by
the common dog and cat vaccines.
The USDA requires challenge data two weeks after last vaccination for
licensure for all vaccines (except rabies). The USDA does not require titers
or challenge data at one year for any vaccine except for rabies vaccines.
Manufacturers yearly vaccine recommendations are arbitrary for all but rabies
vaccines.
Antibody titers that are correlated to protection are known for canine
parvovirus, canine distemper virus, feline calicivirus, and feline
panleukopenia virus.
In one study of 10 dogs inoculated with 1 killed distemper virus vaccine, and
that were monitored without booster vaccines or known contact with canine
distemper, 100 % had protective titers four years later22
Controlled studies indicate that immunization with attenuated canine
distemper vaccine induces protective titers that persist for at least five
years. Attenuated parvovirus vaccines induce protective titers that persist
for at least three years.3-5
Protective antibody titers to canine distemper virus are present six years
after administration of attenuated distemper vaccine.17,22
Of the cats inoculated with killed herpesvirus 1, 14, 15 cats had detectable
antibody titers afer three years.23
Of the cats inoculated with killed panleukopenia virus, 100 % had protective
titers after six years.23
Of the cats inoculated with killed calicivirus, 100 % had protective titers
after three years.23"

*********************************

According to one of the leading authorities on vaccines, Ronald D. Schultz,
PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences,
University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine, who has been studying
infectious diseases and immunology for over 30 years, he states in a 1999
letter:
"There is a great deal of research that needs to be done with vaccines and
vaccinal immunity, but there are not very many agencies, companies or groups
that will fund the work which, as you know is very expensive. A single
experiment which includes 20 to 25 dogs and takes about 15 to 20 weeks to
complete would cost approximately $50,000 to $75,000. A three or more year
duration of vaccine immunity study, which should be done, would cost in
excess of $500,000, thus you can see why no one has done the study in a
controlled setting (e.g. animals not exposed to the agents in the vaccine)."
Also, in his peer-reviewed published article, "Current and future canine and
feline vaccination programs", in "Veterinary Medicine", 1998:
"Unfortunately neither the maximum nor minimum duration of protective
immunity of most vaccines is known. Many vaccinated animals are never
challenged because the pathogens are not present in the animal's environment.
Every vaccine appears to be 100% efficacious when there is no challenge!...
Another reason we don't know the real efficacy and duration of immunity of
current vaccines is that animals are rarely, if ever, experimentally
challenged one year or more after vaccination. Furthermore, no studies are
reported in the literature that compare dogs vaccinated as pups and then
vaccinated annually for three years with dogs vaccinated only as pups to
determine resistance to challenge infection or disease. Studies to determine
whether annual vaccination is needed for protection are rare for any canine
or feline vaccine. The exception is rabies, for which minimum duration of
immunity studies have demonstrated (because they are required for licensing
by the US Department of Agriculture [USDA] that protective immunity is
present in a similar percentage of dogs whether three years after rabies
vaccination or one year after vaccination Certain one-year rabies products
have become three-year products by extending the interval of time before
challenge studies were done. "
Also in "The Suppl Compend Contin Educ Prac Vet", 1998, Dr. Schultz and
Suzanne Conklin, BS, write in their article "The Immune System and Vaccines":
"Note that most of the experimental studies demonstrating a 'lifetime
persistence' of memory cells have been performed in mice, a species that
rarely lives more than 3 years; therefore studies in longer-lived species are
required to determine the true life of memory cells. In most species, memory
cells are not easily identified and only the demonstration of protection
after challenge infection can absolutely show that there are memory cells
capable of protecting the animals from disease....
...and few or no studies exist for maximum duration of immunity with canine
or feline vaccines."