Shots fired: veterinary medical associations are calling for fewer vaccinations. Are local veterinarians hearing the ring?(PREVENTION)

We've come a long way, baby--on paper, at least.

In the past decade, the veterinary profession's overall attitude toward vaccination has evolved to a point that can be tentatively termed progressive.

In 2002, the American Veterinary Medical Association issued a policy statement that urged veterinarians to "customize" vaccine protocols for individual patients, since there is "inadequate data to scientifically determine a single best protocol" for initial or repeat vaccinations.

A year later, the prestigious American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) released its landmark canine vaccination guidelines, which were updated in 2006. The AAHA guidelines separate vaccines into different categories--core, noncore, and not recommended at all--and suggest that veterinarians revaccinate for core diseases such as parvovirus and distemper no more than every three years.

Most veterinary universities have followed suit, teaching their graduates that, depending on the disease in question, yearly vaccines are now the exception, not the rule.

But while the idea of "annual shots" should be as antiquated as wringer washing machines, it is alive and well among some veterinarians who either have not taken the time to understand the new paradigm--or have chosen to ignore it.

"We haven't gone anywhere in some cases, and I think there are several reasons," says veterinary immunologist W. Jean Dodds of Santa Monica, California. One of them is simply inertia.

"The veterinary profession has been convinced for so long that vaccines were essential," and that sort of thinking is hard to change, particularly when vaccine labels can be misleading, says Dr. Dodds. "I think veterinarians assume the label [identifying a given vaccine as a one-year product] is a requirement, and interpret it more strongly than the vaccine companies intended," Dodds says. "And the companies don't try to dissuade them because that's what the USDA has told them to say."

Bureaucracy aside, many veterinarians and veterinary practice managers may be concerned that abandoning annual vaccinations will hurt their practices' bottom line. Bob Rogers, a veterinarian and vaccination critic from Spring, Texas, refutes that fear. When he switched to a reduced vaccination schedule, "my vaccine income dropped 7 percent, but my overall income went up 20 percent. When people find out they don't have to spend a whole lot on vaccines, they spend that money on something the dog really needs, like teeth cleaning."

One impetus for reevaluating vaccine protocols has been concern over adverse vaccine reactions, both acute and chronic. All veterinarians recognize signs such as anaphylactic shock (a severe allergic reaction), or flu-like symptoms such as lowgrade fever, malaise, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. But they may not make the connection between vaccinations and temperament changes (particularly after the rabies vaccine), seizures, autoimmune diseases such as hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia (reduced platelet count), or hypertrophic osteodystrophy (severe lameness in young growing dogs), which may surface weeks or months after vaccination.

And many owners are equally oblivious. "If an owner sees her dog hiding under the table after a vaccination, or the dog doesn't want to be touched, they don't call their vet with that information," Dr. Dodds says, but instead might dismiss it as the dog having an "off" day.

Dr. Dodds notes that some advocates for minimal vaccination have done more harm than good by overstating the issue, implying that virtually everything is caused by what's in that syringe.

"Many environmental challenges can cause problems, and vaccines are just one of them," says Dodds, ticking off other possible suspects, such as topical flea and tick products, and environmental pesticides and insecticides.

Personal experience is a powerful motivator, and some vets insist on vaccinating annually for diseases such as parvo because they remember the widespread fatalities when the disease was prevalent decades ago.

Dr. Ron Schultz, chair and professor of pathobiological science at the University of Wisconsin's School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, notes that the flip side is true, too: Veterinarians whose own animals experience vaccine reactions are reluctant to reflexively vaccinate.

"Boy, are they ever believers," says Dr. Schultz, who was a member of the AAHA task force that revised the 2006 guidelines. "As I often remind them, 'When it was your animal, you didn't care whether this occurs in one out of 10,000 animals, did you? It was your one.'"

Core vaccines

The 2006 AAHA canine vaccination guidelines single out four …