These situations place a mental health burden on the person bitten, as well as the rest of the veterinary staff, in an industry that already struggles with widespread burnout, understaffing, and job turnover, she says.īut she reiterates that the rabies vaccine is overwhelmingly safe and effective. Per Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture guidelines, once a veterinary staff member is bitten by an undervaccinated or unvaccinated animal, the animal must undergo a period of observation and the staff member is encouraged to receive immediate medical attention. "When a staff member is bitten by an animal, there is always concern for infection or trauma, but the seriousness of the situation escalates if the animal is unvaccinated or overdue for its rabies vaccine," Dr. She says she encounters an unvaccinated animal or a vaccine-hesitant pet owner every day in her job. Gabriella Motta, a veterinarian at Glenolden Veterinary Hospital in Glenolden, Pa. Working with animals that are not current on their rabies vaccine poses increased risks for veterinarians and all animal care attendants at a hospital, says study coauthor Dr. The American Animal Hospital Association calls vaccinations "a cornerstone of canine preventive healthcare" and recommends that all dogs (barring specific medical reasons), receive a core set of vaccines for rabies, distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, and parainfluenza, and advises that many dogs receive additional "non-core" inoculations for Lyme disease, Bordetella, and other diseases. "If non-vaccination were to become more common, our pets, vets, and even our friends and family risk coming into contact with vaccine-preventable diseases." Matt Motta, assistant professor of health law, policy & management at BUSPH, who studies how anti-science beliefs and attitudes affect health and health policies. "The vaccine spillover effects that we document in our research underscore the importance of restoring trust in human vaccine safety and efficacy," says study lead and corresponding author Dr. Thus, if fears towards pet vaccinations persist or increase, this skepticism could pose serious public health implications for both animals and humans, the researchers say. More than 59,000 people die from canine-mediated rabies across the globe each year. The disease still poses a potential health threat, as it carries a near 100-percent fatality rate, and the canine rabies vaccine is much less accessible in developing countries than in the US and other high-income countries. These attitudes are in contrast to most state-level polices in the US, where almost all states require domestic dogs to be vaccinated against rabies. These dog owners are also more likely to oppose policies that encourage widespread rabies vaccination, and less likely to make the effort to vaccinate their pets. Notably, the findings show indication of a COVID vaccine "spillover" effect in the US - that people who hold negative attitudes toward humanvaccines are more likely to hold negative views toward vaccinating their pets. The survey was conducted between March 30 and Apamong 2,200 dog owners who answered questions through the research sampling firm YouGov. The study is the first to formally quantify the prevalence, origins, and health policy consequences of concerns about canine vaccination. skepticism about vaccinating their pets against rabies and other diseases.Īn estimated 45 percent of US households own a dog according to the survey results, nearly 40 percent of dog owners believe that canine vaccines are unsafe, more than 20 percent believe these vaccines are ineffective, and 30 percent consider them to be medically unnecessary.Ībout 37 percent of dog owners also believe that canine vaccination could cause their dogs to develop autism, even though there is no scientific data that validates this risk for animals or humans. Published in the journal Vaccine, the study analyzed a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States and found that more than half of people who own dogs expressed some level of canine vaccine hesitancy - i.e. Now a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher suggests that this hesitancy towards COVID vaccines extends to pet vaccinations, as well - and at worrying levels. Public confidence in adult and child vaccines has declined during the pandemic, largely spurred by misperceptions and mistrust in the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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