AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines

Introduction

The first page of the Report of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Task Force: Executive Summary and 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines and Recommendations² contains an important message:

Limited published scientific information exists on duration of immunity. Therefore, these guidelines and recommendations are based on limited scientific evidence, but are supported by consensus and expert opinion, as well as clinical evidence.

While several references are listed in the final AAHA report, there is little scientific data providing sufficient evidence for a universally accepted three-year revaccination interval for all dogs.

Commentary

The AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines were developed after the AAFP proposed its feline-specific guidelines. Because there was no specific association of canine practitioners, AAHA was encouraged by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to form a task force and develop canine vaccine guidelines.

Despite AAHA's canine vaccination guidelines, annual vaccination is recommended for most antigens. Fort Dodge has a vaccine supported with three-year duration of immunity data on three antigens, CPV, CDV and CAV-2. Duramune® Adult is particularly well-suited as a booster vaccination for adult dogs when following an extended vaccination interval program.

Our experience tells us immunity from most other vaccines is good at one year. As the graph below indicates, protective immunity against various disease challenges decreases over time, with many factors affecting it, including the type and severity of the virus or bacterial challenge, age of the pet, nutrition, stress and the vaccine protocol. Every veterinarian must decide what level of disease risk is acceptable for each patient and make decisions appropriately.

Pet owners want their pets protected and, for most, the additional risk of disease resulting from extending vaccination intervals without scientific data, is unacceptable. The efficacy of current yearly vaccination is well tested in the real-world setting.

* This graph is designed to reflect the theoretical concept that for some disease antigens, protective immune response declines over time, which leads to increased risk of disease if challenged. Protective immunity is unique to each animal and declines at different rates for different diseases.