Annual Vaccinations - Yes or No

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Coming up to that time of the year again. I have yearly gotten the full panel of shots plus Coggins. I’m really starting to question the wisdom of the necessity of the whole yearly thing (minus the Coggins). Last year they all seemed to have a reaction to the shots. The year before, the barn came down with Influenza, not long after having their shots and being vaccinated against it. More and more controversy has been coming to light on the current protocol of yearly shots being necessary, are we over vaccinating?

Thoughts, what do you do?

[IronwoodFarm]

I am not having reactions to vaccines so that colors my response. We have rabies, WNV and Potomac Horse Fever in my area. I have known horses who died of the latter two. I think skimping on tetanus is probably unwise. My horses show and we have required to present evidence of biannual EHV in order to show. To me, annual shots are an inexpensive form of protection. I have not seen any empiricle evidence that we are over vaccinating, but would be open to considering evidence published in a peer reviewed journal.

[Dutchmare433]

There is no controversy regarding yearly vaccinations. At least not any based on scientific evidence or facts. People talk about drawing titers to check if vaccines are necessary, but a) testing is very expensive and b) the tests don’t really give any meaningful results.

If your horse has a reaction, try a different brand of vaccine, maybe give some banamine. If you have a horse with a severe enough reaction that you cannot vaccinate, you hope that all the other horses in the area are vaccinated so you have some degree of herd immunity and less chance of spreading contagious or vector-borne disease.

I give all the core vaccines at least once a year. I also do Strangles and PHF. When I lived in a more endemic area for PHF that got given 2x a year. I always do flu/rhino twice a year. Depending on competition schedule, weather, and outbreaks, I might booster WNV a second time during the summer.

We had an outbreak of EEE a few years ago, the only horses who contracted it were unvaccinated, every horse that contracted it died. Two people died as well.

[Minxitbabe]

Likely we are all over vaccinating. I hate to do it but some of the diseases we vaccinate are so bad if they get them I cringe and do it. There was someone I knew local that had a horse come down with Potomac a few years ago and die so I do feel strongly about that one. But I do not know if that horse was vaccinated or not so that doesn’t mean it’s really effective. The issue is many things we vaccinate for are carried by flying insects (or birds/snails in the case of Potomac) and there is no way we can 100℅ manage that.

I vaccinate my adult dogs every three years as studies have shown that the vaccines are effective well beyond that time frame. Not sure how much research has been done on horse vaccines but unfortunately for now I will continue to vaccinate against what I perceive as major threats.

[trubandloki]

@Dutchmare433

If you have a horse with a severe enough reaction that you cannot vaccinate, you hope that all the other horses in the area are vaccinated so you have some degree of herd immunity and less chance of spreading contagious or vector-borne disease.

That is where I am now. I keep my fingers crossed that the people around me vaccinate. I cringe when people decide to not vaccinate just because. They seem to be the same people who are all shocked when Dobbin gets something they could have vaccinated for.

I vaccinate my other two horses.

[GoodTimes]

Please vaccinate, you won’t be able to live with yourself if one of you horses contracts something that was so easily preventable. Until there is scientific proof that everyone is over vaccinating then there is no reason not too. Keep in mind that vaccines and viruses are not comparable to bacteria and antibiotic resistance.

[Guilherme]

@CaliforniaDreamer

Coming up to that time of the year again. I have yearly gotten the full panel of shots plus Coggins. I’m really starting to question the wisdom of the necessity of the whole yearly thing (minus the Coggins). Last year they all seemed to have a reaction to the shots. The year before, the barn came down with Influenza, not long after having their shots and being vaccinated against it. More and more controversy has been coming to light on the current protocol of yearly shots being necessary, are we over vaccinating?

Thoughts, what do you do?

We generally follow the recommendations of the State Vet, the UT Vet. School, and our regular vet. So far there have not been any significant deviations in the advice given by the group.

G.

[clanter]

@trubandloki

I cringe when people decide to not vaccinate just because. They seem to be the same people who are all shocked when Dobbin gets something they could have vaccinated for.

Even when vaccinated sometimes the vaccine doesn’t work. During the first wave of West Nile, even though all of our horses had been vaccinated with then approved vaccine we had one contract West Nile. Of the over 140 cases of West Nile our vet treated that summer our horse was the only survivor mostly because we caught the problem from the onset.

We stable the horses at night, so have a hands on with each one at least twice a day and caught this horse’s change in behavior within a day…but still he nearly died.

Blood work from this horse was used to improve later versions of the vaccine

By the way we had to pull Coggins at least twice a year not once since we often shipped across state lines

[Dutchmare433]

@trubandloki

That is where I am now. I keep my fingers crossed that the people around me vaccinate. I cringe when people decide to not vaccinate just because. They seem to be the same people who are all shocked when Dobbin gets something they could have vaccinated for.

I vaccinate my other two horses.

Ugh, it sucks to be in that position. I’m curious why exactly people think we are over vaccinating? It seems to have stemmed from that whole “vaccines cause Autism” in people, which of course was 100% fabricated, but the paper got published and it planted that seed of doubt. The best I can figure is that people have this vague desire to treat everything “naturally” or holistically. But that gets dangerous for humans and horses alike when you’re dealing with zoonotic disease.

I also wonder if say, a vaccine for Lyme disease or EPM was developed and shown to be very effective. (There is a canine vaccine for Lyme that’s sometimes given to horses but its efficacy is low.) Both are disease that many (most depending on geographic location) horse owners have dealt with. Would people be more likely to vaccinate against a disease of which they have personally seen the consequences?

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Thanks for chiming in :0 Looks like I’ll be sticking to the yearly full panel of shots. I will also inquire for an alternate of the vaccine that they had a reaction to last year. I really appreciate the feedback.

[DiamondJubilee]

I vaccinate based on what my vet recommends. He does not like to over vaccinate or under vaccinate (which I love). He also always recomends to look at where we are planning on showing and see what types of shots might be needed and he could always add those to my spring rounds.

We do a rabies/tetanus, west nile and EHV (as this is required for shows in the US). I do coggins only on the ponies that are going to the US for shows, other than those, I don’t require anything else. Potomac is not popular in our area and since I don’t have a bording barn/horses coming or going, I don’t do strangles either.

My vet does not like combo shots (though the rabies/tetanus is a combo one) as he states he finds more horses react to them, and he will split these shots up into 2 sessions. If you tend to get reactions, you could try to split up the shots and ask for single doses as well as it might help.

My vet will come and do the rabies/tet one week, then usually a couple of weeks later (as I get teeth done in between and he does not like to sedate and give shots on the same day) he will do the west nile and EHV. This works well as our mosquitos dont tend to come out until the weather changes (around mid april) and I start giving my shots and do teeth in the beginning of April. To encourage this my vet also will not charge any extra farm calls. He just charges me for the first one in April, then on the repeat visits, he waves the fee. This way he gets more of his clients splitting up the shots and to me it shows he’s not doing it for a money grab. Did I say I love my vet…

[Palm_Beach]

With some diseases, the vaccinated horse may still get sick but it will be less severe than if the horse had not been vaccinated - ie West Nile.

If a horse has a reaction, the horse should be given bute and the vaccinations should be administered seperately over time (ie don’t do a 5 way or 7 way).

[newhorsemommy]

My horses are both in their early 20s and I still vaccinate every spring for WEE/EEE/Tetanus and WNV. Rabies gets done in the fall.

My vet doesn’t think older horses need the Strangles vaccine, so I no longer have that one done.

My mare gets IN flu/rhino, but my gelding with Cushing’s and a history of laminitis reacts with a high fever when he gets the flu/rhino. IM, IN, and even with IV Banamine, so my vet doesn’t feel it’s worth the risk to continue vaccinating for that.

It can help to spread the vaccinations over a couple week period so that they don’t get all the vaccines on one day.

[Midwesterner]

We have Potomac here, and it’s usually very nasty - multiple horses die in our area each summer.

Question for the OP - did you give all of your vaccines at the same time and your horse reacted? I separate mine and give them over about a 6-week period. But, besides rabies and PHF, I give them all myself and have the luxury to spread them.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

@Midwesterner

We have Potomac here, and it’s usually very nasty - multiple horses die in our area each summer.

Question for the OP - did you give all of your vaccines at the same time and your horse reacted? I separate mine and give them over about a 6-week period. But, besides rabies and PHF, I give them all myself and have the luxury to spread them.

I had them given all at once, as per what I do every year (with previously no reaction). This year I will see if I can spread them over two visits and just pay the extra farm charge.

[Guilherme]

@Palm Beach

With some diseases, the vaccinated horse may still get sick but it will be less severe than if the horse had not been vaccinated - ie West Nile.

If a horse has a reaction, the horse should be given bute and the vaccinations should be administered seperately over time (ie don’t do a 5 way or 7 way).

We had this happen with our stallion a few years back. One of my tenant’s boarders decided not to vaccinate an older horse for EEE. The horse contracted the disease and died; our boy got it and was sick but recovered nicely. He was vaccinated. All the other horses were vaccinated and none got sick.

A vaccine in NOT a guarantee of “no disease.” It is reasonable protection against the disease, both in contracting same and in the severity of the illness if the disease is contracted.

Put another way, vaccines are not death and taxes.

G.

[eclipse]

We vaccinate as per the recommendations by our vet, and like most people I am a huge believer in doing what I can to prevent disease spread! In fact, ALL of the big shows in Alberta and BC will not even accept your entry until you provide vet proof of flu/rhino vaccinations!

[Where_sMyWhite]

Depends on where you live but in CO I would always want WEE/EEE, Tetanus, WNV, rabies. Diseases that are easily fatal if the horse gets it. If vaccinated, the horse might still get ill but usually not as severe. These are also diseases/organisms that you really don’t benefit from herd immunity as they really aren’t passed horse-to-horse but from some other carrier… usually 'skeeters or animals like raccoons or live in the soil.

I was never a big fan of strangles vaccine. PHF wasn’t endemic in CO.

[Hej]

@CaliforniaDreamer

I had them given all at once, as per what I do every year (with previously no reaction). This year I will see if I can spread them over two visits and just pay the extra farm charge.

If you are comfortable giving IM injections, ask your vet to just leave the ones you want to give later and give them yourself. This is what I do for the horse who has had reactions.

Keeping track of what was given when can help narrow down which vaccine is triggering the reaction. Talk to your vet about using a different brand of the problem vaccine. Different mfgs use different carriers and it might be that that your horse reacts to rather than the active ingredient.

Also, my vet advises giving banamine 12 hours BEFORE the vaccine is administered, and for a day or two after.

[Guilherme]

Many livestock vaccines are available at your local co-op. Anyone comfortable with giving injections can buy and use them. They should, of course, keep a record in the event they need it.

G.