[Kris L. Christine]

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Vaccines are intended to be administered to HEALTHY dogs -- it is an advisory issued on vaccine labels, in veterinary literature and guidelines, as a dog's health status can have an impact on a vaccine's effectiveness and fail to elicit an immune response. Startlingly, the AAHA task force indicates (see quote below) that vaccination in a "severely immunosuppressed" dog can result in the dog acquiring the disease it is being vaccinated to prevent!

On Page 24 of the 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines, its states under the "Sick Dogs" heading that: "As with pregnant dogs, veterinary medicine has advised against vaccination during illness, due to concerns about suboptimal seroconversion, or worse, conversion of vaccine to disease." In other words, if you vaccinate a pregnant or sick dog, not only do you run the risk of a less-than-desirable immunological response, but you run the risk of your dog contracting the disease it is being vaccinated against!

Under the "Immunological Factors Determining Vaccine Safety" column on page 16 of the American Animal Hospital Association's 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines it is written that: " ...an attenuated pathogen in a host which is severely immunosuppressed, or genetically more susceptible, may result in the vaccine causing the disease for which it was designed to prevent." Further on that page, under "The Immune System and Frequency of Revaccination," it cautions that: "When vaccinating an animal, the age of the animal, the animal's immune status, and interference by maternal antibodies in the development of immunity must be considered. Research has demonstrated that the presence of passively acquired maternal antibodies significantly interferes with the immune response to many canine vaccines, including CPV [parvo], CDV [distemper], CAV-2 [hepatitis] and rabies vaccines."

The Merial Imrab 3 vaccine label for dogs and cats, click here: Products #-Z and then click on IMRAB 3, then on "label": "INDICATIONS: IMRAB® 3 is recommended for the vaccination of healthy cats, dogs,sheep, cattle, horses, and ferrets 12 weeks of age and older for prevention of disease due to rabies virus."

For Rabvac 3 View click on "label" "Rabvac 3 is a killed virus vaccine for the vaccination of healthy dogs, cats and horses against rabies."

This link Pet Vaccinations – A Time for Change will take you to an article by Dr. Moira Drosdovech entitled Pet Vaccinations - A Time for Change, in which she states what all the veterinary medical schools and vaccine companies declare, that: "Although I have stated this in previous articles, I cannot emphasize enough that any pet receiving a vaccination should be 100% healthy. This excludes vaccinating pets with any health problems whatsoever, including diseases in "remission" such as skin diseases, cancer, thyroid problems, to name a few, and especially not those with a history of autoimmune disease. Please understand that you are not benefiting your pet at all by vaccinating while unhealthy."

If anyone would like copies of the American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines, the 1992 French challenge study demonstrating that dogs were immune to a rabies challenge 5 years after vaccination, the 2003 Italian study documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines in dogs, as well as Dr. W. Jean Dodds' papers on vaccinal adverse reactions, please e-mail me at ledgespring@lincoln.midcoast.com.

Duration of Immunity to Canine Vaccines: What We Know and Don't Know, Dr. Ronald Schultz Duration of Immunity

The 2003 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are accessible online at Special Report .

The 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are downloadable in PDF format at About AAHA .

Veterinarian, Dr. Robert Rogers,has an excellent presentation on veterinary vaccines at Home.