Puppy and dog vaccinations are a contentious topic these days. Many people have begun to refuse vaccinations at all because of negative side effects.

Personally, I want to have a bare minimum at least, of vaccinations for a puppy especially, as illnesses like parvo or distemper have terribly high mortality rates. That is a personal decision, and I hope you do your own research, deciding on what type of vaccine, and frequency of vaccinating that you think is best.

I have a page about vaccinations in the side bar that I try to keep up to date, and there are lots of links there if you like to do your own research. I want to give a broad summary here of the types of vaccines, and how often it is recommended to vaccinate. This is a good explainatory article on the subject.

http://www.thedogplace.org/VACCINES/Puppy-Shot-Schedule-0611_Vargas.asp

TYPES of vaccines

The idea of vaccinating is to provide immunity to highly contagious diseases like kennel cough, or deadly diseases like parvo or distempter. The paradox is that vaccines intended to keep a dog healthy can also make a dog ill. The difficulty is creating a vaccine that is both effective, and safe.

There are three broad categories of vaccines: killed vaccines (fully attenuated), live pathogen (also called attenuated or modified) vaccines, and recombinant vaccines. Live modified vaccines, though they create a stronger immune response by using the actual but partly weakened (attenuated) pathogen, are not typically used anymore because they can easily become virulent and cause the illness you’re trying to prevent.

The killed vaccines (fully attenuated) must use an adjuvant, an inflammatory substance added to enhance the immune response, so the vaccine is more effective in creating antibodies.

However the most common adjuvants in both animal and human vaccines (aluminium hydroxide, aluminium phosphate and calcium phosphate), are known carcinogens. Pet insurance companies like VPI have reported numbers so large as to make cancer the fourth highest medical claim they recieve.

Squalene was the adjuvant implicated in Gulf War Syndrome, btw. Viruses, bacteria or their components and toxins – as well as foreign animal or cancer-related proteins and DNA – are also finding their way into vaccines through adjuvants.

Many auto-immune reactions to vaccines are implicating bovine protiens and contaminants as the cause.  So fully attentuated vaccines won’t cause the illness you are vaccinating against, but they can and are causing other illnesses because of the adjuvants in some dogs. Great Danes are among the breeds having higher incidences of dangerous responses to vaccine adjuvants.

Recombinant vaccines are genetically engineered “peices” of a pathogen like parvo, combined with peices of a virus from another species like canaries. There are several advantages to recombinant vaccines: inability to become virulent and cause the illness, there is no need for an adjuvant, and they are not inactivated by maternal antibodies which is common in puppy vaccination failure.

Recombinant vaccines are the next generation of vaccines, believed to be safer than the other two kinds, and at least as effective if not more so at preventing disease. There is much more research going on, and new types of recombinant vaccines are being created with the end goal of effectiveness and safety.

As with any emerging field, the long term effects of recombinant vaccines aren’t really known yet. And not every veterinarian uses recombinant vaccines. I’ve had to buy and give them myself, since my local vets still only give the killed 5 or 7 pathogen vaccines needing adjuvants.

FREQUENCY

How often to vaccinate is also a contentious topic. The older shot schedule from way back when that continues with many vets today, has been to vaccinate with 5-7 pathogen vaccines every 2 weeks, (6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 weeks old), followed by yearly boosters. More and more evidence is arising that such frequent inccoculation, and the use of multi-pathogen shots in puppies is not needed, and potentially heightens the risk of reactions to the vaccines.

My page in the sidebar has more details and options for you, http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/great-danes-in-general/puppy-basics/vaccinations/ but a growing consensus is that fewer pathogens at one time, and a schedule of 3-4 weeks apart for puppies is as effective and safer for a puppy’s undeveloped immune system. Some people give single vaccines for parvo and distemper only, a few days apart every 3-4 weeks until 16 weeks old. Some will give a parvo/distemper/adenovirus1/adenovirus 2 vaccination every 3-4 weeks.

There is also a growing consensus that yearly boosters are not needed, and it is becoming recommended to re-vaccinate only every 3 years or more if you use titers to determine the dog’s immunity to the “core” diseases like rabies, parvo and the like.

The schedule I choose is 6, 8, 12, 16 weeks with a recombinant 4-pathogen vaccine (parvo/distemper/adeno1/ adeno 2), and boosters every 3 years. But again, that is only my personal choice. I have to have a vet give a killed rabies with adjuvant at 6 months old by law, as well.

A good place to check for the most updated shot recommendations are the breed specific national clubs, such as the Great Dane Club of America. Other highly respected veterinarians, like Dr Jean Dodd, or Dr Susan Vargas (link above), are also good places to research for yourself.