FECAVA Newsletter – April 2020

April 24th to 30th marks World Immunization Week, which aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. According to the WHO, immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Arguably, vaccination has also been one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions in small companion animal medicine. In many parts of the world, potentially lethal infectious diseases such as canine rabies, distemper or parvovirus infections have been well controlled by vaccinating dog populations at optimum levels of ‘herd immunity’. However, the veterinary profession cannot be complacent about vaccination. Even within Europe, socioeconomic factors underlie variation in uptake of vaccination and the differing prevalence of small animal infectious diseases between western and eastern European regions. Of equal concern are new data showing declining uptake of vaccination and herd immunity in cat and dog populations in regions where infectious diseases have been well-controlled historically. These new trends reflect factors such as reduced expenditure on preventive healthcare for companion animals and the phenomenon of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ that has extended from human to animal healthcare. Read the full text >>> Emeritus Professor Michael J. Day BSc BVMS(Hons) PhD DSc Dr(hc) DiplECVP FASM FRCPath FRCVS Chairman, WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group https://mailchi.mp/fecava/this-is-how-we-save-hundreds-of-millions-of-lives-every-year