Are you Vaccinating your Dog To Often?

As a breeder my main goal is to provide you with a healthy strong puppy.

I have owned dogs all my life and most if not all of my dogs have only received

their first set of vaccinations. They have all lived long and healthy lives, most

of them living until 14 on average.

With the Bernese Mountain Dog one needs to make sure they are fed proper

nutrition, Not over vaccinated and basically raised as naturally as possible.

The breed has a 15 % rate of cancer, so as an owner of a breed that is half Bernese

we need to provide them with what they need for Long and healthy lives.

Below is Information directly from DOGS NATURALLY MAGAZINE

ARE YOU VACCINATING YOUR DOG TOO MUCH?

A QUICK GUIDE TO COMPARING YOUR DOG’S

VACCINE SCHEDULE TO CURRENT RESEARCH.

It’s recently been reported by the senior brand manager of

Boehringer Ingelheim that the majority of vets are vaccinating

more often than necessary. Unnecessary vaccines place your

dog at unnecessary risk for vaccine related health issues. This

quick guide will help you decide if your dog is being vaccinated

more often than research shows is necessary.

In the 1970s, all vaccines, with the exception of rabies vaccines, were licensed by

the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) based on challenge

studies performed for just a few weeks to a few months after vaccination.

All the vaccine labels included the statement ‘‘Annual Revaccination Recommended’’

without really knowing whether the true duration of immunity (DOI)

was a year or a lifetime. So vets vaccinated yearly, even though field observation

suggested that immunity after both natural infection and vaccination was long

lived.

In the mid 1970’s, veterinary immunologist Dr Ronald Schultz and his cohorts

questioned this and began researching how long vaccines really lasted.

“My interest in vaccine DOI (duration of immunity) was

stimulated by several factors ... Says Dr Schultz

The observation that dogs who had recovered

from canine distemper and cats who had recovered

from panleukopenia were completely resistant

to experimental viral challenge many years later.

A veterinarian in the US Army Veterinary Corps

asked me to design a vaccination program for dogs

and cats that did not require yearly revaccinations

It was not known if yearly vaccinations were necessary

for dogs and cats, but most experts I consulted

believed they probably were not needed.

Research was initiated at this time to prove Dr Schultz’s suspicions and

dogs were challenged with exposure to distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus,

anywhere from 1 to 11 years after vaccination.

THE RESULTS:

Every single dog was protected when exposed to the virus.

“The results from this limited group of

dogs clearly demonstrated the Norden

modified live vaccines provided immunity

for at least 11 years against CDV

(distemper) and CPV-2 (par vovirus)”

- Dr Schultz

Based on this research, Dr Schultz and

Scott recommended triennial

revaccination (every three years)

instead of annual revaccination.

... The AAHA Vaccine Guidelines Are Created

These early recommendations prompted the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) to assemble a task force. In 2003, the AAHA Canine Vaccine Task Force evaluated the data from these challenges and serological studies and, while noting that the core vaccines had a minimum duration of immunity of at least seven years, compromised in 2003 with this

statement:

Revaccination every 3 years is considered “protective. ” Task force member Dr Richard Ford, Professor of Medicine, North Carolina State University, said that the decision to recommend a 3 year revaccination schedule for core vaccines was a compromise.

“IT’S COMPLETELY ARBITRARY” HE SAID. “I WILL SAY THERE IS

NO SCIENCE BEHIND THE THREE-YEAR RECOMMENDATION…”

After the 2003 task force, all of the major veterinary vaccine manufacturers completed their

own studies showing a minimum three year duration of immunity on the core vaccines --

distemper, parvovirus and adenovirus.

Dr Schultz continued with his work and by 2006, had completed several additional studies

on over 1,000 dogs and repeated the same results over and over again, effectively showing

that dogs were protected for much longer than three years and most likely for the life

of the dog.

In fact, so sure was Dr Schultz of his work, that his own vaccination protocol for his dogs

was one shot of distemper, parvovirus and adenovirus and none thereafter.

COMMONREACTIONS MODERATE REACTIONS SEVERE REACTIONS

LETHARGY

HAIR LOSS, HAIR COLOR CHANGE AT INJECTION SITE

FEVER

SORENESS

STIFFNESS

REFUSAL TO EAT

CONJUNCTIVITIS

SNEEZING

ORAL ULCERS

IMMUNO SUPRESSION

BEHAVIORAL CHANGES

VITILIGO

WEIGHT LOSS (CACHEXIA)

REDUCED MILK PRODUCTION

LAMENESS

GRANULOMAS/ABSCESSES

HIVES

FACIALEEDEMA

ATOPY

RESPIRATORY DISEASE

ALLERGIC UVEITIS (BLUE EYE)

ANAPHYLAXIS

ARTHRITIS, POLYARTHRITIS

IMMUNE MEDIATED THROMBOCYTOPENIA

HEMOLYTIC DISEASE OF THE NEWBORN

THYROIDITIS

GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

DISEASE OR ENHANCED DISEASE WHICH WITH THE VACCINE WAS DESIGNED TO PREVENT MYOCARDITIS

POST VACCINAL ENCEPHALITIS OR POLYNEURITIS

SEIZURES

ABORTION, CONGENITAL ANOMALIES, EMBRYOIC/FETAL DEATH, FAILURE TO CONCEIVE

The risks of vaccination (why you don’t want to give any more vaccines than necessary)

- From Schultz , 2007

As Dr Ford stated, compromises are clearly being made, judging by the AAHA’s arbitrary and slow-to-evolve revaccination recommendations. This is supported by a growing body of veterinary information and well-developed epidemiological vigilance in human medicine that indicates immunity induced by vaccination is extremely long lasting and, in most cases, lifelong.

What could be holding the AAHA back from making stronger statements and why don’t they enforce these guidelines?

The AAHA is sponsored by four vaccine manufacturers: Merck,

Merial, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim. Furthermore, the veterinary

members of the task force certainly have a vested financial

interest in how often vaccines can be delivered.

... Is this a potential conflict of interest and could this create bias

in the task force recommendations?

Regardless, 60% of vets today still vaccinate more often than the

AAHA guidelines . So 60% of vets are vaccinating three times more often than

college recommendations ... which already encourage 11 over-vaccination and

ignore current research.

If there was any scientific precedent for revaccination, the AAHA’s careful and gradual move away from this annual vaccination would be understandable.

But the only research behind vaccines shows a duration of immunity of at least seven years for the core vaccines …

… there is and never has been any evidence to the contrary.

MINIMUM DURATION OF IMMUNITY FOR

CANINE VACCINES

DISTEMPER 7 years by *challenge / 15 years by *serology

PARVOVIRUS 7 years by *challenge / 7 years by *serology

ADENOVIRUS 7 years by *challenge / 9 years by *serology

CANINE RABIES 3 years by *challenge / 7 years by *serology

* CHALLENGE is immunity proven by exposing dogs to the disease.

* SEROLOGY is immunity proven by high levels of protective antibody.

Vaccines for diseases like distemper and canine parvovirus, once administered to

adult animals, provide lifetime immunity.”

Are We Vaccinating Too Much?

- Concludes Dr. Schultz

JAVMA, No. 4, August 15,

FROM THE AAHA GUIDELINES:

“Because dogs older than 14–16 wk of age are not likely to have interfering

levels of MDA*, administration of a single initial dose of an infectious

vaccine to an adult dog can be expected to induce a protective immune

response. The administration of a single, initial dose of infectious vaccine

to dogs 16 wk of age is considered protective and acceptable.”

* Maternally derived antibodies, which are passive immunity the mother dog passes to her puppies.

“ The truth is the majority of vets are not going to change until they are forced to – which is not likely to happen due to politics and due to the lack of concern by the one entity that could protect the public and ensure animal welfare: the individual state veterinary

medical boards ...”

Says Dr Patricia Jordan

“This change will have to come from the public, they have to stop allowing the over servicing.”

Are You Vaccinating Too Often?

This is where you come in. You can protect your dog from the harm unnecessary vaccines can cause. Use the chart on the next page determine how many more vaccines than Dr

Schultz’s scientifically proven schedule your dog is getting.

*Based on a 15 year old dog

Given at 16 weeks

Titer 3 weeks after

1

Lifelong Immunity

SCIENTIFICALLY

PROVEN SCHEDULE

(BASED ON RONALD SCHULTZ’S

BODY OF RESEARCH

2011 AAHA

GUIDELINES

“VACCINES ARE EXPECTED TO

INDUCE A SUSTAINED PROTECTIVE

IMMUNE RESPONSE LASTING AT

LEAST 5 YR.”

3 Every 3 - 4 weeks

between 8 and 16

weeks of age

5 Given at 1 year

Every 3 years after

8 Puppy shots followed

by every 3 years

ANNUAL

VACCINATION

(REPORTEDLY PERFORMED BY 60%

OF ALL PRACTICING VETS

“A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations.

Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirement for annual revaccination.” Dr Ronald Schultz

3 Every 3 - 4 weeks

between 8 and 16

weeks of age

15 Given at 1 year

Every year after

18 Puppy shots followed

by every year

PUPPIES

(NUMBER OF VACCINES*)

TOTAL

(NUMBER OF VACCINES*)

ADULT DOGS

(NUMBER OF VACCINES*)

0

5 No shots required

after 16 weeks

15 No shots required

after 16 weeks

UNNECESSARY

VACCINES*

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>Nearly thirty years after Dr Schultz’s initial research, the AAHA failed to

recognize the long lasting immunity the core vaccines could provide and

merely changed their revaccination recommendations from “revaccination

every 3 years is considered protective” to “revaccination every 3

years or more is considered protective.”

Today, Dr Schultz continues with his research and his results are repeated

time and time again. In the meantime, research is increasingly showing

the harmful effects of vaccines and this has not

escaped the AAHA’s notice.

Check out page 8 to see a list of common to severe reactions.

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