Commentary: It’s come to this: The anti-vax movement is now after your dog – By Lucian K. Truscott IV (Salon) / Sept 2, 2023
The anti-vaxxers are now going to war against rabies vaccines for dogs
Here we are, coming up on three years of dealing with COVID, and not only are people still arguing about vaccines against the disease, but the anti-vax sentiment that seemed to blossom when the COVID vaccine became available in 2021 has also now cross-pollinated and found its way into the veterinary clinic. A study just published by the journal Vaccine, part of the ScienceDirect network, showed that more than half of American respondents now have questions about vaccinating their dogs – even against rabies.
The Vaccine study, done in conjunction with YouGov, the public opinion polling outfit, questioned 2,200 Americans between March 30 and April 10 of this year and found that 53 percent of respondents had what the study called some “hesitancy” about vaccinating their dogs. This is a bigger problem than you’d think. According to the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 99 percent of all rabies cases worldwide are contracted through dogs that are household pets. Even scarier than that, rabies is almost always fatal once dogs or humans show symptoms. It’s a vicious disease; vaccinating dogs is the best way to control it. Given those figures, you’d think that vaccinations for dogs would be a slam dunk, wouldn’t you?
Think again.
According to the poll by Vaccine/YouGov, large numbers of the American population believe that canine vaccines are unsafe (37 percent), ineffective (22 percent), or unnecessary (30 percent.) According to the study, “A slight majority of dog owners (53 percent) endorse at least one of these three positions.”
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