Anti-Vaxxers Are Apparently Refusing to Vaccinate Their Dogs

On Wednesday, the Brooklyn Paper published a story that made some wonder if humanity is a failed experiment: It suggested the anti-vaccine movement has leapt between species, with some Brooklyn dog owners now refusing to vaccinate their pets from fear that doing so would cause their animals to become autistic. As Colin Mixson reported:

A Clinton Hill–based veterinarian said she has heard clients suggest the inoculations could give their pups autism, echoing the argument of those who oppose vaccinating kids. But even if pooches were susceptible to the condition, their owners probably wouldn’t notice, according to the doctor.

“I had a client concerned about an autistic child who didn’t want to vaccinate the dog for the same reason,” said Dr. Stephanie Liff of Clinton Hill’s Pure Paws Veterinary Care. “We’ve never diagnosed autism in a dog. I don’t think you could.”
And some anti-vaxxers are not content with just withholding shots from their pets, according to a Park Slope dog owner who has run into skeptics that have encouraged him to forgo inoculations.

The Brooklyn Paper was rightfully incredulous that people wouldn’t vaccinate their pets out of their misguided belief that it might make them autistic. Vaccines don’t cause autism in pets or in humans—the research that originally claimed that they did has long since been exposed as fabrication and fraud. Tina Wismer, medical director of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Animal Poison Control Center, confirmed that there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim vaccines cause autism in dogs

Continue to slate.com article:http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/08/anti_vaxxers_now_refuse_to_vaccinate_pets.html