Rethinking Annual Vaccinations
by Karen Caton

Consider the following: "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION THERE IS NO IMMUNILOGIC REQUIREMENT FOR ANNUAL REVACCINATION. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years, allowing an animal to develop a protective anamnestic (secondary) response when exposed to virulent organisms. Only the immune response to toxins (such as tetanus) requires boosters... and no toxin vaccines are currently used for dogs or cats. The practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considered of questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical examination or is required by law (i.e. certain states require annual revaccination for rabies)."

The above statement can be found on page 205 of Current Veterinary Therapy XI, a reference published every two to three years and considered to be "the bible" for veterinary medicine. Could it be possible that we are unknowingly doing more harm to our pets than good? More and more veterinarians believe this to be true and are moving towards annual wellness exams rather than annual revaccination. Although most veterinarians feel that some degree of vaccination is needed, problems may arise from repeated exposure over a period of years.

More and more animals are suffering from adverse reactions to vaccinations. These adverse reactions can include lethargy, fever, stiffness, sore joints, abdominal tenderness, anaphylactic shock (an allergic reaction that causes swelling of critical airways which can result in death within minutes), liver and kidney problems and more (see reference #1 below). If an animal has a preexisting health problem, vaccinations can expedite a decline in health of that animal as they are known to depress the immune system. Many animals with chronic problems fail to improve or respond to traditional treatment. The homeopathic community refers to these adverse reactions as "vaccinosis", which broadly means the vaccinations interfere with the body's own ability to heal itself.

Recent studies have begun to link several chronic health problems to vaccines. There is epidemiologic evidence linking feline leukemia and rabies vaccines to sarcomas at the site of injection. These soft tissue tumors are usually malignant and quite aggressive and most often fatal. Sarcomas may occur as often as I in l000 (see reference #2 and #3 below>. Skin problems such as hair loss, lesions, ulcers, indurations (hard lumps) at and near the injection sites have been associated with some rabies vaccines (see reference #4 below). Typically these problems are treated with long-term usage of steroids and/or surgical removal. Though the risk of these types of adverse reactions may not be at epidemic proportions, it is certainly real enough to warrant reexamination of traditional vaccination practices.

We are not trying to create an alarmist attitude about this situation, but we would hope that readers will at least start asking questions about your pets health care. All too often, the best we do is the usual "knee jerk" response, only because it is what we've been doing for years. As a result of these findings, along with the recommendations of our shelter veterinarian Dr. Linda East, and some first hand experiences with adverse reactions of shelter cats, we at Cat Care Society have significantly modified our own vaccination procedures. We strongly encourage our adopters, as well as supporters, to start asking questions before automatically agreeing to any procedure or practice that concerns your pets health.

the way - when was the last time you had your "baby' shots? Paws for thought.

References:

(1) W. Jean Dodds, D.V.M., "More Bumps On The Vaccine Road", proceedings of AHVMA Annual Conference, 1994.

(2) JAVMA, Vol.207, No.4, 8/15/95 - "Are We Vaccinating Too Much?"

(3) JAVMA, Vol.202, No.8, 4/15/93 - "Postvaccination Sarcomas In Cats"

(4) W. Jean Dodds, D.V.M., "Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Revisited: Autoimmune and Allergic Diseases On The Rise", Veterinary Forum. May 1993.

(Also see "Vaccines Linked To Increased Numbers Of Tumors In Cats" by Paige G. Garnett, Care Animal Hospital)