- Should you or shouldn't you? All the controversy surrounding horse vaccines has made horse owners anxious. Here's what you need to know to make the right decision.
- Photo by Kevin McGowan.
Vaccination has been called “medicine’s greatest triumph,” responsible for nearly eradicating childhood killers such as polio and smallpox. Vaccinating your horse protects him against equally frightening diseases, including tetanus and sleeping sickness, both of which are almost always fatal. In the past decade, however, vaccine opponents have raised concerns about vaccinations—and even begun to question whether they’re necessary at all.
Should you continue to vaccinate your horse? If so, which vaccines should you give? It’s hard to know what’s right.
In this article, I’m going to investigate the top five arguments I’ve heard made against vaccination—in both human and veterinary medicine. While some of the concerns are legitimate, many more are not—and consequences of under-vaccination can be even more frightening than the fears of vaccine opponents.
Once you’ve heard all sides, I’ll give you a set of rational questions to ask to make educated decisions about your own horse’s vaccination plan.
The Arguments
Point #1: Vaccines are dangerous. Overheard: “They lead to a hyperstimulated immune system and all kinds of health problems. I’ve read on the Internet that vac- cination causes headshaking and allergies in horses, too.”
Counterpoint: When it comes to horses, there are no legitimate studies that link vaccination to diseases related to an over-stimulated immune system such as allergies or skin disease. The stories you hear are just that—stories. While there may be other reasons to question whether or not to administer a certain vaccine to your horse, this simply isn’t one of them.
Point #2: The side effects are awful. Overheard: “OK, so maybe there’s no scientific proof that vaccina- tion causes other diseases, but the side effects from vaccines are horrible. Every time my horse gets vaccinated he can’t lift up his head for days. Death is even possible.”
Counterpoint: Yes, vaccinations can cause side effects—some more than others. And this is clearly a legitimate reason to consider your horse’s vaccination program carefully. Some horses are more sensitive to vaccines than others, and if yours is one that seems to have a problem every time he’s vaccinated, you may choose to take the minimal-vaccination route. In this situation, the concept of “herd immunity” comes into play: If 80 percent of the population in a herd is vaccinated, the remaining 20 percent have some protection against a serious outbreak.
If your horse is a reactor, you should look at individual vaccines carefully. Vaccines for some diseases are more problematic than others, and different forms of vaccines for the same diseases have different reactivity. Ask your vet to help you decide which vaccines are most important due to exposure risk and severity of disease.
Once you’ve decided which diseases are most important to target, look at the different forms of each vaccine available. For example, killed-virus vaccines may not be quite as effective as modified-live-virus vaccines, yet they typically cause much less significant reactions. And intranasal vaccines for respiratory diseases are often much less reactive than their intramuscular counterparts.
If you’re considering strangles vaccination (a vaccine with high risk for side effects), you can measure antibody levels in the blood prior to vaccinating; if antibody levels are high, your horse is at greater risk for serious side effects (and could be protected anyway), so don’t vaccinate.
Finally, if your horse is exceptionally sensitive, ask your vet whether it would be advisable to administer a dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as flunixin meglumine (Banamine®) prior to vaccination to minimize side effects.
As an example, we have a horse in our practice that’s highly reactive to vaccines. He spikes a fever, his legs swell, and he can even act a little colicky afterwards. He lives in a big, busy competition barn, where his exposure risk is high. His vaccination program consists of tetanus—because it’s such a safe vaccine against an extremely dangerous disease—and influenza given intranasally, where side effects are extremely rare. He’s lucky to live in a barn where the other horses are on a solid vaccination program so herd immunity is high. And he receives a dose of Banamine prior to every tetanus vaccine to minimize his risk of side effects.
[...] headshaking and allergies in horses, too.” Advertisement … … The rest is here: Vaccine Wars: The Great Debate From Horse&Rider | Equisearch ← Ain't Doin' Right » Maine Equine Associates News and Updates Boosting a [...]
I am not against vaccinations. However I do have a real concern. We all know that the horses immune system is a fine working machine. So why do humans need Tetanus once every TEN years, with a booster if needed, and our furry friends need it EVERY year? Why do dogs only need Rabies once every three years and our horses again……EVERY year. I have spoken to many vets about this and they all agree that titers are not a priority in the equine world. No one is figuring it out. MANY horses are getting through EEE and WNV on their own without us even knowing it. It may be the night they stocked up, or as simple as appearing to have an “off”day. And the SINGLE shot that include 5-6 vaccines?? Way too much for the immune system to handle at once. I am a nurse and am well aware of the pharmaceutical influence! I had a distemper titer run on my dog. Guess what? Her titer was good and it’s been 5 years out! It was good because the vaccination did what it was supposed to….. Build Immunity,,,,,,Lets give our equine friends the same benefit of the doubt.
914709
Just like in the article herd immunity is real. It can be the same for dogs even if you have just one dog. But if there are any dogs that have vaccines in the area that is herd immunity. Also many suggest that dogs need rabies vaccines only every 3 years but that too is not true. Dogs may not contract rabies at all because the vaccine is still there BUT it is weaker an if the dog OR horse is exposed to a rabid animal the chances of the animal contracting rabies is greatly heigthened. do you want to have to pay expensive bills or even put your animal down all because some person on the internet said animals only needed vaccines every 3 years?
I’m so glad you posted an article on vaccinations in horses. I am a veterinary student and it continuously amazes me the ignorance you run into about vaccines. As long as your horse can handle vaccination and is not allergic to the adjuncts added, then you should vaccinate. You do not want to have to watch your horse die from something preventable like tetanus or EEE or WNV. This is a great article.
.I have had horses for over 30 years and have 4 horses now i myself have been vaccinating for 9 years rabbies tetanus sleeping sickness eastern and western encephlitias and west nile and i would spend any amount of money to save them so with that being said i have done alot of research and talked to alot of horse people and you have to be carefull about vaccinnations. radies is the only FDA approved and is the only proven drug the outhers are not FDA approved and are not proven to keep any sickness away. my friends horse died 2 weeks ago of west nile her horse was 9 years old and has had west nile shot for 6 years now. that proves right there that the shot does not work. vaccines do stay in a horse for 3 years dont over vaccinate or you can do more harm than good