Anti-vaxxer pet owners forego life-saving rabies vaccines: study
This news might make you foam at the mouth.
A majority of dog owners are now considering letting their dogs go without vaccination – even if it means catching rabies or other deadly diseases, new research shows.
according to a recent study in the journal Vaccine53% of dog owners consider pet vaccinations unsafe, ineffective and/or unnecessary.
Dogs are responsible for 99% of all rabies cases worldwide.
The disease is almost always fatal to humans and animals once symptoms appear.
“To be honest, we were quite surprised,” said Dr. Matt Motta, one of the study’s authors and a political scientist at Boston University’s School of Public Health. said Bloomberg.
“Reluctance to vaccinate dogs is widespread,” Motta said.
Rabies – an estimated 59,000 deaths each year – is just one communicable disease that can be prevented by vaccination.
For example, Lyme disease and leptospirosis can infect both humans and animals in unvaccinated pets. In 2017, a leptospirosis outbreak occurred in New York City, infecting several people in the Bronx. according to the Brooklyn Paper.
Reluctance to vaccinate “is problematic not only because it can lead to refusal to vaccinate – which in turn can promote the spread of infectious diseases in both dogs and humans – but also because it can contribute to mental and physical health risks for veterinarians,” they write authors of the study.
In the most recent survey, nearly 40% of pet owners were concerned that vaccinations could cause dogs to develop autism, an idea that has been thoroughly and repeatedly disproved.
“I had a client who was concerned about an autistic child who wouldn’t vaccinate the dog for the same reason,” said Dr. Stephanie Liff of Pure Paws Veterinary Care in Brooklyn opposite the Brooklyn Paper.
“We have never diagnosed autism in a dog,” added Liff. “I don’t think you could.”
Most state governments require rabies vaccinations for both cats and dogs. Others, like the parvovirus vaccine, aren’t required but are vital to canine health, vets say.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted vaccine skepticism. Less than 80% of Americans now think childhood vaccinations are important, compared to 93% before the pandemic, according to a report by UNICEF.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, immunization coverage has fallen sharply, leaving millions more children unprotected from some of the most serious childhood diseases,” the UNICEF report said, calling the situation “red alert.”
“This shows that COVID has fundamentally changed the way Americans look at vaccines,” Motta said.
“We live in a world where states are considering phasing out vaccinations,” Motta added. “What can I say that pets aren’t the next frontier?”
