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Are We Over Vaccinating our Pets?

Vaccination in both human and veterinary medicine is a charged issue these days. The benefits of vaccine are clear, with vaccination schedules put in place to give potent and proper protection, decreasing the risks of many diseases for both animals and humans and protecting both individuals and populations from outbreaks.

Yet the risks of over-vaccinating our pets is an all too prevalent reality. Adverse reactions to rabies vaccination can include skin lesions; allergic responses; vomiting and diarrhea; muzzle edema; autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites.

Careful and judicious use of vaccines must be based on up-to-date research about the vaccines that are currently administered. The new Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust research project has begun with the goal of transforming the way we vaccinate by documenting research to extend the required interval for rabies boosters to five and then to seven years.

World-renowned veterinarian Dr. Jean Dodds of California donates her time leading this research project in hopes of proving that the duration of immunity of the current Rabies Vaccines is seven years. The second phase of the project will also finance a study of the adjuvants used in Rabies Vaccines and establish an adverse reaction reporting system. Grassroots funding is essential, as studies like these are highly unlikely to be funded and carried out without a bias by a drug company.

Adding critically important data on Rabies Vaccines—that they last for at least seven years—to the veterinary literature will make a huge difference for our pets. The findings of Dr. Dodds’ study could decrease the risk of adverse reaction to vaccination by significantly decreasing the number of vaccines needed in an animal’s lifetime. This research is not being done anywhere else in this country, although researchers in France have already proven that the rabies vaccine lasts five years. Dr. Dodds’ research, which is designed to federal government standards, hopes to be instrumental in changing the laws that govern frequency of vaccine use to comply with modern medicine. In many states and cities, outdated laws on the books require a one-year vaccine be given, even though the three-year is accepted by federal standards.

The University of Wisconsin is working closely with Dr. Dodds, donating all necessary overhead, which accounts for 48 percent of direct research costs. Additionally, Dr. Schultz, the Principal Investigator, is volunteering his time. The research for the five-year and seven-year study will be done concurrently, and each year’s work will be funded by donations.

Hopefully in the near future, our pets will see the benefits of this research, needing only one Rabies Vaccine every seven years. you can help by contributing to this worthwhile research project.

Please send your donations to:

Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust
C/O Hemopet
11330 Markon Drive
Garden Grove, CA  92841
(714) 891-2022
donation@rabieschallengefund.org
www.rabieschallenge.org

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