Mandatory Horse Show Vaccination Complaints
Last year, there was a large equine influenza outbreak at the Crawford County Fair in Pennsylvania. In response to that, a mandatory influenza vaccination policy was implemented. However, registrations for this year’s fair have dropped by 1/3 from 457 to 310. One horse owner says “It’s because of the shots.”
This is a pretty unfortunate response by horse owners. Mandatory vaccination is an entirely reasonable component of an infection control program that should be more widespread. Shows are optimal environments for transmission of disease. Huge numbers of horses get sick ever year from infections acquired at shows and outbreaks are not exactly rare.
One horse owner explains her decision not to show as “It’s the expense, plus there’s the risk of an adverse reaction to the shots.” That’s code for “It’s the expense.”
Vaccines are pretty cheap, especially when you consider how much money is spent on the horse and showing each year. People often spend huge amounts on boarding, (largely unnecessary) supplements, tack and other supplies, along with the costs of registering and traveling to shows. Concerns about adverse reactions are often used to justify non-vaccination, but it’s usually just an excuse. Adverse reactions to vaccines are quite rare and typically minor. Adverse reactions to intranasal influenza vaccination are extremely rare to non-existent.
Hopefully this fair sticks with this policy. They should be commended for taking a responsible action and more fairs should be doing the same thing. Personally, this is a fair that I’d want to show at. The vaccination requirement means there’s less chance of a horse acquiring influenza. Also, weeding out people who are too cheap or otherwise unwilling to use good preventive medicine strategies should decrease the pool of horses that are carrying other infectious diseases. Those people can organized their own vaccine-free show (the biohazard games).
Adverse reactions to vaccines may not as rare as you seem to think. I have two horses (of a herd of five) that cannot lower their heads to the ground for a week after simple rabies and tetanus shots. I have to build a platform to feed them. My veterinarian suggests using banamine at the time of vaccination, but the fact that he has this as a regular protocol suggests that the reaction to vaccines is more widespread than you acknowledge.
To simply suggest that horse owners are too cheap is insulting. Although cost is an issue, especially with a regular call charge hitting $58 on my last bill, everyone has their own reasons for vaccinating or not vaccinating.
It's time that the vaccine producers acknowledge problems with their products and develop safer vaccines and establish titre levels so that annual vaccination can be done as required, not just by default because we don't know any better.
We also need to be aware of our own horse's biosecurity and hygiene at events, limiting contact, taking our own pails, etc. Vaccination is only one part of the equation.
It's unfortunate your horses have vaccine reactions but anecdotes aren't data. It's fact that vaccine reactions are uncommon. Serious reactions are less common. And, if you look at the point of the post, it deals with influenza vaccination. Reactions to intranasal flu vaccination are extremely low, if they even occur at all. People have the right to choose whether or not to vaccine, but if they choose not to, they should accept that their activities might be restricted to help protect other horses.
You're right. I drifted off topic from the flu vaccine.
My data pool for adverse reactions is limited, but perhaps your 'horse owner' is anecdotal as well? It would be interesting to find out the range of reasons for a lowered attendance which could include everything from poorer economic times to people not wanting to expose their horse, vaccinated or not, to a fairgrounds with such a recent history of a problem. Unfortunately there is no way except a survey of previous exhibitors to find out why people didn't go. The reaction of the fair to the previous year's outbreak is a responsible one, but I wonder if attendance would not have been down anyway? We'll probably never know.
Organizers need to decide if they're willing to take the hit to attendance for the good of the horses, which unfortunately comes back to economics, not horse health. Last year we missed out on one event because of vaccination requirements; the same event wasn't held this year at all.
As a horse owner, where do I get unbiased information about vaccines? Do animal vaccines undergo independent trials for adverse reactions and efficacy?
There is mandatory reporting of adverse vaccine reactions in Canada by the vaccine manufacturers to the Veterinary Biologics Section (VBS) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. VBS monitors the type and frequency of reports in order to identify any potential issues with the safety and efficacy of licensed products. In order to increase the usefulness of mandatory adverse reaction reporting, veterinarians should report all suspected adverse reactions to the vaccine's manufacturer. Any comments regarding the licensing of veterinary vaccines in Canada, or adverse reaction reporting in Canada, can be directed to VBS at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/vetbio/conpere.shtml
Unfortunately there is no way except a survey of previous exhibitors to find out why people didn't go. The reaction of the fair to the previous year's outbreak is a responsible one, but I wonder if attendance would not have been down anyway?