CALIFORNIA Rabies Bill AB 272 ACTION ALERT

[Kris Christine]

CALIFORNIA ACTION ALERT: Rabies Bill AB 272 introduced by Assemblyman Gomez seeks to lower required age of vaccination to 12 weeks from the current 16 weeks AB 272 Assembly Bill - INTRODUCED .

What You Can Do to Help:

Please contact Mr. Gomez & ask him to WITHDRAW this bill! Assemblymember.Gomez@Asm.CA.Gov (916) 319-2051

PERMISSION GRANTED TO CROSS-POST

[Buster Brown]

Originally Posted by Kris Christine

CALIFORNIA ACTION ALERT: Rabies Bill AB 272 introduced by Assemblyman Gomez seeks to lower required age of vaccination to 12 weeks from the current 16 weeks AB 272 Assembly Bill - INTRODUCED .

What You Can Do to Help:

Please contact Mr. Gomez & ask him to WITHDRAW this bill! Assemblymember.Gomez@Asm.CA.Gov (916) 319-2051

PERMISSION GRANTED TO CROSS-POST

Called and told them I was against the bill. Thank you

[crazydoglade]

Also sent an email. Do you know why they want to change the age. How many rabid dog bites have there been any way.

[Nancy1999]

Has he said WHY he wants to lower the age? Has there been some type of outbreak?

[Buster Brown]

I called back to the office. They stated that most states vaccinate at this earlier age and they want to bring California on par with other states. She said they also to protect the dogs from being vaccinated twice (double vaccinated) ?? She said she does not have the statistics on rabies bites in California

[brezofleur]

This is ridiculous........ Come on CA...

[crazydoglade]

I haven't noticed many 4 month old rabid dogs lately, andpeople who leave their puppies in situations that would put them in danger probably wouldn't immunize them anyway.

[brezofleur]

Originally Posted by crazydoglade

I haven't noticed many 4 month old rabid dogs lately, andpeople who leave their puppies in situations that would put them in danger probably wouldn't immunize them anyway.

That's funny, LOL

But really...Isn't 16 months still really young to take them out "in public"? :/ They're still so young and I cannot imagine their immune system is that strong yet. Even more of a reason to not let this bill go through.

[Buster Brown]

CA 2012 1 Dog - 1 Cat - 196 Bats -3 Foxes - 1 Raccoon Total 213

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/di...eclaration.pdf

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/di...AR%20Table.pdf

[Buster Brown]

And from Kris Christine

RABIES LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES as of 6/16/10

[Nancy1999]

This guy sounds clueless, if he wants to do what other more progressive states are doing, he should amend the California Code to include medical exemption language for unhealthy animals for which rabies vaccination would compromise their well-being. The states of Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin all have medical exemption clauses for sick animals in their rabies immunization laws, and a bill is currently pending in the California legislature to include a waiver in their statutes. Work on that Assemblyman Gomez. Duration of Immunity Study for Rabies Vaccine - Rabies Challenge Fund

[Kris Christine]

Thank you all for taking action! I've drafted a letter on behalf of The Rabies Challenge Fund & will post it tonight or tomorrow after I've sent it to Asm. Gomez.

Reports are that the other e-mail for Asm. Gomez does not work. Please try this one: assemblymember.gomez@assembly.ca.gov

[crazydoglade]

If he's truly trying to help dogs why does't he legislate mandatory sterilization. If he's just ddoing it for votes (not cynical at all) who cares. That would help dogs and protect the public better than any changes in rabies schedule.

[Kris Christine]

Originally Posted by buster brown

called and told them i was against the bill. Thank you

thank you!

[Kris Christine]

Below is my letter to Assemblymember Gomez on behalf of The Rabies Challenge Fund.

February 13, 2013

Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0051

RE: AB 272 An Act to Amend Section 121690 of the Health and Safety Code Relating to Rabies

Greetings Assemblymember Gomez:

Assembly Bill AB 272 which you have introduced seeking to lower the age at which dogs must be vaccinated against rabies from 4 months to 3 months is ill-advised and scientifically unfounded. The bill seeks to address a problem in the canine community that does not exist, as the California Department of Public Health’s statistics in Reported Animal Rabies Data make abundantly clear: bats and other wildlife pose the major threat of rabies transmission to the public, not dogs under the age of 4 months.

Three cases of rabies in dogs since 2007 (no mention of them being dogs under 4 months of age), as opposed to 981 rabid bats and 147 rabid skunks for the same period, evidences the fact that the current law requiring puppies to be vaccinated against rabies by 4 months of age is effective at controlling rabies in California’s canine community and does not need to be changed.

Lowering the age at which puppies are required to have their first rabies shot from 4 months to 3 months would be counterproductive. Puppies are finishing up their other vaccinations (distemper, hepatitis, parvo) at 12 weeks (3 months) of age, and adding a rabies vaccine into the mix will not only increase the likelihood of adverse reactions, but also the probability that the vaccine components will interfere with each other and neutralize or negate the desired immunological response.

Contributing to the chance that rabies vaccination at 3 months may not be effective is the continued presence of maternal antibodies. According to the 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines, the most common reason for vaccination failure is "the puppy has a sufficient amount of passively acquired maternal antibody (PAMA) to block the vaccine......" [1] They elaborate by reporting that at the ages of 14 to 16 weeks of age, "PAMA should be at a level that will not block active immunization in most puppies (>95%) when a reliable product is used." After the age of 16 weeks (4 months), the maternal antibodies are reduced to a level at which they should not reduce the rabies vaccine's effectiveness.

Vaccinating puppies at too young an age can be ineffective. The 2003 American Animal Hospital Association's (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Guidelines reports on Page 16 that: "When vaccinating an animal, the age of the animal, the animal's immune status, and interference by maternal antibodies in the development of immunity must be considered. Research has demonstrated that the presence of passively acquired maternal antibodies interferes with the immune response to many canine vaccines, including CPV, CDV, CAV-2 and rabies vaccines.” [2]

As it currently stands, the law requiring puppies to be vaccinated at 4 months of age is and has been effective at controlling rabies in California’s canine population. There is no epidemiological or scientific rationale for changing this law and prematurely exposing puppies to the potentially harmful, sometimes fatal, adverse side affects of the rabies vaccine prior to the age of 4 months.

On behalf of The Rabies Challenge Fund and the many concerned California pet owners who have requested our assistance, I strongly urge you to withdraw AB 272.

Respectfully submitted,

Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
Duration of Immunity Study for Rabies Vaccine - Rabies Challenge Fund

cc: Dr. W. Jean Dodds
Dr. Ronald Schultz
California Assembly
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[1] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2006 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, 28pp.
[2] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, 28pp.