Vaccination: The Impact of Anti-Vaxxers on the Health Status of Pets

A study conducted in the United States shows a link between pet vaccination coverage and owners’ attitudes toward vaccines for human health. People who are hesitant to get vaccinated or to have their children vaccinated are reportedly more reluctant to administer recommended vaccines to their pets.   However, these findings are more nuanced than they appear. First, it depends on the vaccine. For example, the rabies vaccine remains widely administered, while vaccination rates are declining for other diseases. The study, conducted in August 2023, is based on responses to a questionnaire sent to 2,000 dog owners and 1,400 cat owners. The survey focused in particular on the vaccination status of pets for several diseases:

• for dogs: rabies, canine parvovirus, canine distemper, canine influenza, and Lyme disease;
• for cats: rabies, feline panleukopenia (parvovirosis), feline herpesvirus, feline chlamydiosis, and feline bordetellosis.

Animal owners were then asked about their views on human vaccination against certain infections and their perceptions of the safety, efficacy, and importance of each vaccine. Their opinions on childhood vaccines, including factors such as “religion” and “politics,” were also gathered. Finally, questions addressed their general trust in scientists and the annual budget allocated to their pet, excluding health and veterinary costs. The results show that the vast majority of respondents had their pets vaccinated against rabies, although vaccination rates for dogs were higher than those for cats. For other infectious diseases, these rates are slightly lower but remain significant. Animal owners who questioned the importance, effectiveness, and safety of vaccines for animals were generally more hesitant to get vaccinated themselves. Surprisingly, those who had spent a lot of money on non-veterinary expenses (such as boarding or training a pet) were more likely to forgo vaccinating their pet. Haeder’s study revealed that the ideology of American pet owners (pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine) was correlated with the decision to vaccinate their pets or not, although the impact was weaker for animal vaccines than for those intended for humans. However, “Concerns about growing vaccine hesitancy remain and should be taken seriously, for both pets and humans, before the United States falls below the thresholds necessary to prevent major outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Haeder said. This could indeed threaten both human health and that of their four-legged companions, according to the researchers.