Because many veterinarians have failed to disclose that most core veterinary vaccines protect for seven or more years, pet owners, unaware that their animals don’t need multiple yearly vaccinations, have needlessly overvaccinated their companions – taking an unnecessary toll on their finances and animals’ health. Rep. Peter Rines of Wiscasset has introduced legislation, LR883 – An Act to Require Veterinarians to Provide Vaccine Disclosure Forms – to solve this problem.

According to Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, “Yearly booster vaccine recommendations for vaccines other than rabies virus have been determined arbitrarily by manufacturers

Why haven’t veterinarians disclosed this information to clients? One possible explanation is contained in a Veterinary Economics August 2004 cover story entitled “Targeting Changing Vaccine Protocols,” which states: “In the 1970s and 80s many veterinarians derived a substantial percent of their total incomes from vaccinating dogs and cats . … [a]nd in many practices today, the vaccination reminder is the one thing that drives visits from healthy pets. So changing … vaccine protocols could have a significant effect on finances.”

The American Animal Hospital Association’s 2003 Vaccine Guidelines reports that: “[T]he ethical issue that our profession struggles with today is whether economics justifies giving an animal a drug (vaccines are biologic drugs) that is not necessarily required. As a minimum, we should allow pet owners to make this choice rather than make it for them.” Rep. Rines’ legislation will give pet owners the disclosure information they need to make that choice for their animals.

Kris L. Christine, Alna

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