I could write a 10 page post about under vaccinating, fear mongering (this thread is not fear mongering), herd immunity, titers, and ignorant doctors/vets, but I'll try to keep it short.
Under reporting doesn't surprise me at all. Human doctors are also unlikely to blame a shot or medication for a symptom, especially if it's pretty mild. It's not the easiest thing to put two and two together, and to do so accurately.
My mom and grandmom have many severe allergic reactions to many common medications and a lot of their experiences with doctors haven't been great. They've been told they're wrong it's from something else, they took too much medicine, and they're over dramatizing what happened.
We constantly have to double check that doctors don't give them medications related to the ones they're allergic to.
My mom got the depo shot twice, and second time she went into anaphylactic shock in the doctor's parking lot. They swore up and down she must have gotten stung by a bee, I'm not sure if they reported it. It was defiantly from the shot because every month when it was released into her system she got very sick. After that horrible reaction her coworker realized she was not right every month after the first shot too. That coworker also helped her figure out she's got a mild allergy to black olives.
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I think a good bit of the reason why vets are hesitant to switch the rabies shot to every 5-7 years is it would be harder to remember. Yeah the vet can send a notice out to remind you, but a lot can happen in that time such as moving and record issues.
Under vaccinating scares me a lot more than over vaccinating, although neither is good. |