More than half of U.S. dog owners expressed concerns about vaccinating their dogs, including against rabies, according to a new study published Saturday in the journal Vaccine. The study comes as anti-vaccine sentiments among humans have exploded in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pets are now often considered to be a member of the family, and their health-care decisions are weighed with the same gravity. But the consequences of not vaccinating animals can be just as dire as humans. Dogs, for example, are responsible for 99% of rabies cases globally. Rabies, which is often transmitted via a bite, is almost always fatal for animals and people once clinical signs appear. A drop in rabies vaccination could constitute a serious public health threat.
In the new study, the authors surveyed 2,200 people and found 53% had some concern about the safety, efficacy or necessity of canine vaccines. Nearly 40% were concerned that vaccines could cause dogs to develop autism, a theory without any scientific merit.
The truly ironic thing is that the fact that vaccines worked so well at eliminating so many horrible diseases is why these chuckle fucks don't think that they need vaccines.
If they never saw a loved one killed or permanently fucked up from disease it must not exist or it's no a big deal. They are completely oblivious to the fact that vaccines are the reason why they never saw the suffering and death first hand.
...is almost always fatal for animals and people...
That's an understatement. I think there are only one or two documented cases ever where someone started to show symptoms of rabies and lived. If I recall correctly those who did live were given massive doses of the vaccine as the moment symptoms were noticed and were mentally incapacitated the rest of their lives.
I've recently encountered a cat rescue that rehomes their feral cats without giving them their rabies vaccines and NOT disclosing this. Ask me how I know and am 11 needles deep....they asked me to lie to public health and maintain that rabies isn't actually necessary and I wasn't really put at risk (?!)
It's fucking ludicrous and public health barely responded.
I am all for saving and rehoming ferals but holy hell VACCINATE AGAINST RABIES. The reason it's not as prevalent is BECAUSE OF THE VACCINES.
"All the contagion of the south light on you. You shames of Rome! You herd of boils and plague. [Let us] plaster you o'er, that you may be abhorr'd! Go, further than seen, and one infect another, against the wind another mile!"
This was about plague and dirty people that wouldn't stop dumping their shit in the gutter in front of their houses. He says you dirty fucks, herd of plague, were going to post picture of you on the wall and make fun of you. You should leave town, and then go another mile away, and infect each other.
I pay $10 a year to license my dog. My dog has to be rabies vaccinated to get his license. He’s issued a tag with an ID#. The vet has to report his vaccine info. I get a certificate with a vaccine number too. I suppose I’m fortunate to live in an area with this as a requirement but I think it’s pretty easy to get around this too. I live in a metro area. I suppose in more rural areas, licensing and registration of dogs isn’t the norm.
Do these people actually want to experience rabies, a disease with 99.9999999999% death rate, for themselves? Well, good luck for them, and natural selection will prevail.
Meanwhile I was thrilled when my vet got the bunny vaccine, which had to be specially imported under special rules from Europe. And I was even more thrilled that a US made alternative just became available because it doesn't involve growing live virus in bun buns. Hell no we don't want RHD2, and IMHO you would have to be insane to withhold that vaccine from your bun buns.
Buns don't get rabies vaccines but I'm perfectly happy to vaccinate my cat against whatever the vet suggests.
Honestly, it's more worth reading than the article. It's 7 pages, not including references and data.
I was wondering who the 2,200 people were. From the study:
Data
Data for this study are derived from a nationally representative online survey of N = 2,200 US adults, conducted
between March 30 - April 10, 2023. We administered this study in partnership with YouGov...
...YouGov did this for our study by first pulling a simple random sample of responses from nationally
representative US Census data, ...These individuals were then invited to participate in our study.
The firm then corrected for any remaining deviations ... on the basis of respondents’ racial identity, gender
identity, age, educational attainment, and 2020 US Presidential vote choice.
Stage 1 Results: The Prevalence and Politicization of CVH
We begin our analysis by considering the prevalence of CVH among dog owners. As Table 3 demonstrates, a large
minority of dog owners consider vaccines administered to dogs to be unsafe (37%), ineffective (22%), and/or
unnecessary (30%). Correspondingly, we find that a slight majority of dog owners (53%) can be considered to be
vaccine hesitant; i.e., because they endorse at least one of these three positions (see: Measures)
As an autistic, a dog lover and a science guy... I feel so fucking conflicted.
Like, statistically speaking dogs are more likely to bite their owners, making rabies lethal for both the dog and the common sense challenged owners; I'm willing to let the humans die, however the dog is still innocent.
Anyway, I just wish every single conspiracy theorist anti vaccine person gets a very treatable and preventable (via vaccine) disease+infection; no sympathy from me.
I never watched it and even I know about Old Yeller. This is just animal cruelty with how well known the disease is.
edit: Also isn't Rabies also a disease that targets the brain? Like the mother of all trades. Autism or Rabies /s (and yes I know one of those wouldn't even happen)
I know several people who don't vaccinate their pets. I don't hang out with them if their critters are around. It's not worth the risk.
I had half my face ripped off by a dog when I was a kid, so I take rabies very seriously. I got jumped by 3 raccoons a while ago and went through the rabies vaccine process as a precaution.
I get my animals every vaccine that my vet offers. Gotta protect their furry lil dumb asses
because the AR15 and the attack dog aren't enough danger to have around the house, they also need rabid attack dogs.. it makes sense.. it's an upgrade to home security..
this headline is meant to get a rise out of readers. are these numbers greater than they used to be? we can't say they're on the rise without a prior measurement