Risk of Multiple Vaccinations In One Visit

Most veterinary colleges now say that vaccinations should be administered once every three years, instead of a yearly vaccination protocol. What about administering multiple vaccinations in one visit? In the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine a study was published in 2005, that suggests veterinarians should warn clients about the risks involved. Multiple vaccinations in one visit can increase the chance of serious side effects.

The study involved 360 veterinary hospitals, vaccinating 1,226,159 dogs, with 3,439,576 doses of vaccine. 4,678 had serious side effects solely attributed to the vaccinations, in actuality, there may have been many more dogs that suffered vaccination reactions but weren't counted. One reason for this, is that the study only included reactions reported within three days. Furthermore, only dogs were counted that exhibited certain side effects, such as allergic reaction, urticaria, or anaphylaxis. They did not count dogs that seizured, even though this symptom can be caused by a vaccination reaction. There may be a certain amount of dogs that became ill soon after vaccination, yet were misdiagnosed and never reported. It's possible as well, that there may be customers that never reported a reaction to the vaccinating veterinarian.

Interesting facts from the study...

* Small dogs are in the highest risk group for a reaction, and the risks decreased significantly as the body weight increased.

* Risk was 27% to 38% greater for neutered versus sexually intact dogs.

* Risk was 35% to 64% greater for dogs approximately 1 to 3 years old versus 2 to 9months old.

* Risk significantly increased as the number of vaccine doses administered per office visit increased.

* Each additional vaccine significantly increased risk of an adverse event by 27% in dogs < or = 10 kg (22 lb) and 12% in dogs > 10 kg.