Time was when you brought your dog to the vet every year for his shots. Times have changed.

Dr. Christina Chambreau D.V.M. says: "Would you rebel if your doctor told you to have measles, mumps, rubella, diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, and hepatitis shots every year of your life until you died, instead of only a few doses as a child?"

People don't need yearly revaccinations. And veterinarians and immunological researchers now realize...neither do dogs.


What is a vaccine...and how does it work?

A vaccine does not attack disease. A vaccine IS a disease.

A vaccine is a weakened (diluted) version of an actual disease, such as distemper or parvovirus.

When your dog is injected with this vaccine, his immune system is supposed to react by forming antibodies against that disease. These antibodies (created by his own immune system) are what protect him in case he comes in contact with the real disease.

Please read that again.

Because you may have thought it was the vaccine itself that protected your dog, perhaps by hiding somewhere in his bloodstream until needed, then attacking the disease if it ever tried to sneak its way into your dog.

No. A vaccine is simply the original catalyst that urges the immune system to produce antibodies. Thus, it is your dog's own immune system that protects him against disease.

The question then becomes:
"How many vaccinations are necessary for a dog
to form enough antibodies to protect him
against a particular disease?"

The simple answer used to be: One per year. The "annual booster shot."


Annual booster shots are no longer needed

Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XI...the veterinarian's "bible"...says: "A practise that was started many years ago that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccintaions. Almost without exception there is no immunologic 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." *written by Dr. Tom Phillips DVM, PhD, & Dr. Ronald Schultz PhD, immunologist and Professor/Chairman of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin.

That means...the immune system "has a memory". Once it has been shown what to do (by the initial puppy vaccinations), the adult's immune system continues to produce antibodies against that disease...for years and years, probably for life. Annual reminders are not needed.

The same article goes on to say: "Furthermore, revaccination fails to stimulate a secondary response as a result of interference by existing antibodies (similar to maternal antibody interference)."

That means...booster shots are not only not needed but actually interfere with the antibodies your dog has already formed.

Dr. Phillips and Dr. Schultz finish the article with this bombshell... the real reason why vets continue to insist that dogs require annual vaccinations: "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."

This is why vets continue to vaccinate dogs every year. Each vaccine costs them less than $2.00. They charge you $15 or more...plus the office visit. It is in your vet's best financial interest that you bring your dog in every year.


If you're thinking..."Well, even if yearly shots aren't necessary, they don't do any harm, right?"

On the contrary. Vaccines are NOT harmless.

Dr. Charles Loops D.V.M. says: "The first thing that must change is the myth that vaccines are harmless. Veterinarians and animal guardians are not protecting animals from disease by annual vaccinations, but in fact, are destroying the health and immune systems of these same animals they love and care for".

Dr. Christina Chambreau D.V.M. says: "Routine vaccinations are probably the worst thing that we do for our animals. They cause all types of illnesses. Repeating vaccinations on a yearly basis undermines the whole energetic well-being of our animals. Veterinary immunologists tell us that vaccines need only be given once or twice in an animal's life. First, there is no need for annual vaccinations and, second, they definitely cause chronic disease."

Dr. Roger DeHaan D.V.M. says: "We have been destroying the immune system. Over the years it has become increasingly clear that some vaccines are ineffectual or unnecessary; that some vaccines are dangerous, even causing symptoms of the disease they are supposed to prevent."

Yearly vaccination is harmful

• Some vets will try to vaccinate your dog for distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parainfluenza, parvovirus, coronavirus, bordatella, and rabies. All at the same time. Pumping in so many diseases...every year...is a terrible overload that can destroy the immune system. And for no reason, since the antibodies are already there.
  
  
• It says right on the label that vaccines are to be given ONLY to healthy dogs. Yet dogs suffering from allergies, skin conditions, ear infections, digestive upsets, obesity, and so on, are routinely vaccinated. Dogs on steroids and antibiotics are vaccinated.
  
  Dogs in the hospital for surgery -- already physically and emotionally stressed -- are vaccinated. Elderly dogs are vaccinated.
  
  How can these individuals possibly be considered healthy? Their immune systems, already fighting against stress, illness, or old age, cannot respond positively to the vaccine, only negatively.
  
  
• No records are kept on how many dogs catch the disease from the very vaccines that are supposed to be protecting them. Numerous individuals, especially puppies, suffer distemper and parvo symptoms shortly after being vaccinated.
  
  Other individuals develop illnesses later, in such a common pattern that it is easy to connect them to recent vaccinations. The medical name for this syndrome is vaccinosis.
  
  You might breathe a sigh of relief that your dog has "breezed through" a vaccination with no immediate reaction. In reality, you have no idea what is going inside him. The real problems may surface next month or next year.

Dr. Pedro Rivera D.V.M. says: "Reactions might take months or years to show up. In our practice, we have seen hypothyroidism, ear infections, immune-mediated diseases, joint maladies, and behavioral prolems as reactions to over-vaccination."

Take this to your vet...

The AVMA Journal (1996, #208) says: "There is no scientific data to support a recommendation for annual administration of vaccines. Furthermore, repeated administration of vaccines may be associated with a higher risk of anaphylaxis and autoimmune diseases."

In the same issue: "There is little scientific documentation that backs up label claims for annual administration of most vaccines. In the past, it was believed that annual vaccination would not hurt and would probably help most animals. However concerns about side effects have begun to change this attitude. The client is paying for something with no effect or with the potential for an adverse reaction."

Finally, the AVMA article ends with the sensible reality that... "We have to change our focus from a yearly vaccination to a yearly physical."

Copyright © 2000 by Michele Welton. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without the permission of the author. Be sure to visit Michele's website Your Purebred Puppy.

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