Horse owners can vaccinate their horses against a variety of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, they’re also confronted with a mix of advice from a plethora of sources — most of them sound and somewhat persuasive. David W. Ramey, DVM, writes about vaccination options for horses.
Source: Horse Channel, April 7, 2017.
‘Core vaccinations’ is a term that the American Veterinary Medical Association came up with to describe vaccinations “that protect from diseases that are endemic to a region, those with potential public health significance, required by law, virulent/highly infectious, and/or those posing a risk of severe disease.
“Core vaccines have clearly demonstrated efficacy and safety, and thus exhibit a high enough level of patient benefit and low enough level of risk to justify their use in the majority of patients.” Ramey says the definition highlights some important considerations for any horse owner:
- “Endemic to a region”
- “Potential public health significance”
- “Required by law”
- “Virulent/highly infectious”
- “Posing a risk of severe disease”
- “Efficacy and safety”
- “Risk/benefit”