Vaccine label instructions have traditionally described ideal, textbook scenarios, but they are getting much less specific. While it provides room for flexibility and gets away from rigorous, dogmatic approaches, it doesn’t necessarily help someone know what to do instead, writes Scott Weese, DVM, DACIVM.
Veterinary vaccination guidelines can be useful and have helped advance preventive care over the years, but they also need to evolve, Weese says. In overdue pets, giving a single dose now is no more off-label than restarting a series, because neither scenario is described on the label.
In part 2 of the series, Weese investigates vaccination intervals from an in-clinic perspective. Leaving questions about vaccination of pets in shelters, he summarizes:
- There is no scientific basis for a minimum interval between giving different non-live vaccines to dogs and cats.
- The only scenario in which a minimum interval between different vaccines could plausibly matter is sequential administration of multiple modified-live vaccines. However, this doesn’t come up very often in pets, and the potential for interference is based only on extrapolation from human medicine, with no evidence that it is clinically relevant in dogs or cats.
Source: Worms and Germs. Part 1 <Link>; Part 2 <Link>.
INSIGHTS: We reviewed vaccine hesitancy consumer articles for additional perspectives on pet owner concerns. Weese identifies much of the confusion pet owners express on overlapping, stacking and when vaccines are administered.
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