Pet corner
Herbal help for vaccinations
July/August 2001
By Randy Kidd, D.V.M.
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Use immune-boosting herbs to help your pet through vaccinations.
Photo courtesy of R. Mayfield
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The use of vaccines in veterinary medicine is a
controversial and often-emotional subject. Ask a group of
veterinarians whether vaccines are safe and/or effective, ask them
which vaccines to use, how often to use them and when, or ask them
which vaccines they use for their own pets, and you’ll get a whole
spectrum of answers.
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On the one side are the practitioners who feel that vaccines are
totally safe to use and that they are extremely effective in
preventing disease. Typically, these are the practitioners who
recommend the use of annual vaccinations for every disease that has
an available vaccine. At the other extreme are those who feel
vaccines are evil incarnate, and will try to convince their clients
to use as few vaccines as possible.
Then, there are the veterinarians who have studied both sides of
the vaccine question and have come to several realizations. First,
vaccines are grossly overused in veterinary medicine. There is
absolutely no scientific evidence to support the annual use of
vaccines, and over-vaccination has been cited as the culprit for
many vaccine-induced problems. Also, the overall efficacy of
vaccines is overrated. No vaccine is 100 percent effective, and
even the best will only protect a percentage of the population
truly at risk. Third, animals experience far more vaccine-related
problems than are reported, meaning that vaccines are not as safe
as most people believe. And last, some practitioners believe that
the overuse of vaccines is related to an increased incidence of
chronic diseases such as thyroid imbalances, arthritis, and
cancers. The collection of these diseases is often referred to as
vaccinosis—the most controversial of all vaccine-related
topics.
My position on vaccines
When it comes to vaccines, for once in my life I am not an
extremist; I am more of a “compassionately conservative”
vaccinator. I think the safety and efficacy of giving appropriate
vaccines to puppies and kittens outweighs their potential for harm.
After the “kids” get their vaccines, however, all good science
points to a re-vaccination regime of every third to fifth year,
depending on the vaccine, or possibly no further vaccines for the
animal (again, depending on the vaccine and the animal’s risk of
exposure). Note that rabies is the exception here: Dogs (and in
some states, cats) will need a rabies vaccine annually or every
third year, depending on where you live. This legal requirement is
to protect the human population.
Finally, after studying both sides of the vaccine question and
observing my patients, I am personally convinced that overzealous
vaccinating predisposes our pets to many of the chronic diseases
that are so prevalent today. I am one who believes that vaccinosis
is a very real problem, and thus I try to minimize vaccines as much
as possible.
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