Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
American and Canadian veterinarians' perceptions on dog and cat core vaccination rates and the impact of the human medicine anti-vaxx movement on veterinary medicine.
- Journal:
- The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne
- Year:
- 2021
- Authors:
- Kogan, Lori R et al.
- Affiliation:
- College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences · United States
Plain-English summary
A survey of veterinarians in the U.S. and Canada looked at their views on vaccination rates for dogs and cats. They expressed concerns about potential side effects from vaccines, such as severe allergic reactions, soreness at the injection site, and low energy in dogs, while for cats, they worried about the same soreness, low energy, and a rare type of cancer linked to vaccines. Many veterinarians noted that pet owners often hesitate to vaccinate their pets due to beliefs that vaccines are too expensive, unnecessary, or could cause serious health issues. The survey found that when there is a strong anti-vaccine movement in the community regarding human vaccinations, more pet owners also become resistant to vaccinating their pets. This suggests that the attitudes of pet owners towards vaccinations for their animals are being influenced by the broader anti-vaccine sentiment in society.
Abstract
An electronic survey was distributed to assess American and Canadian veterinarians' perceptions on dog and cat vaccination rates. The top veterinarian concerns for vaccinating a healthy adult dog were anaphylaxis, soreness at the injection site, and lethargy; for cats, these concerns included vaccine-associated sarcoma, lethargy, and soreness at injection site. Veterinarians reported that the most common concerns mentioned by reluctant or resistant clients to vaccinating their dogs or cats were beliefs that vaccinations are costly and unnecessary or may lead to chronic or severe illness. There was a positive correlation between an organized anti-vaxx movement against mandatory vaccination for children in their community and the number of vaccine resistant or concerned clients. That the number of resistant clients was associated with the presence of an organized anti-vaxx movement implies that the human anti-vaxx movement is impacting pet owners' views on companion animal vaccinations.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33692579/