Anti-vaxxers Are Sentencing Pets to Death Based on Ridiculous Claims

The new anti-vaxxer wave is spreading to pets.

No, it’s not clickbait. I wish it was.

We all know that the anti-vax movement found a new surge during this pandemic. The World Health Organization even included vaccine hesitancy as one of the 10 treats for global health.

Well, the issue is now spreading to pets.

According to a report from the United Kingdom, about 25% of the pets weren’t given the necessary vaccines. Vaccination levels in the country have been falling in the past few years. They went from over 80% in dogs in 2011 to 75% in 2018. And from over 70% in cats to 65%.

This fall in vaccination rates could have a number of reasons, such as financial issues. However, about 20% of pet owners who didn’t vaccinate their animals stated they considered it unnecessary.

The claims that we see about human vaccines are now spreading to pets — that they are unnecessary, dangerous, and even that they can cause autism.

Yes, you read that right. There are actually people claiming that vaccines can cause autism in dogs.

For starters, vaccines don’t cause Autism in people, to begin with. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder which means that you’re born autistic and you die autistic.

There are no reports of Autism (or anything alike) in dogs. Nothing. Zero. It has never been reported in pets. There’s not even a diagnosis procedure in dogs because they don’t have Autism.

The issue grew so much that, in 2018, the Senior Vice President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), had to issue a statement to debunk these claims:

There is currently no reliable scientific evidence to indicate autism in dogs or a link between vaccination and autism.

These are the facts. But when have anti-vaxxers changed their minds because of facts?

Vaccinations are safe. Over the last decades, they have saved thousands of animals from deadly diseases such as distemper and parvoviruses. There are few things that frustrate a veterinarian more than watching a puppy suffer for weeks with a disease that’s preventable.

Having more than 70% of pets vaccinated creates herd immunity and protects even unvaccinated pets. But if the vaccination rates start falling short, we will see puppies dying from parvo and other preventable diseases more often.

Not only that but not vaccinating our pets also puts humans in harm. There are several zoonotic diseases in pets that can be passed from pets to humans. Two important ones are rabies and leptospirosis, both of which have vaccines available to pets.

Rabies is one of the cruelest diseases known to humans and is fatal in 100% of cases. Because of vaccinations, it has been eradicated in many countries and the WHO intends to eliminate deaths from rabies by 2030.

Yet, if vaccination rates for rabies start decreasing, we run the risk of having this disease back in countries where we haven’t seen it in decades. It’s illegal in many countries to have dogs that are not vaccinated for rabies. But will that be enough to stop anti-vaxxers from not vaccinating their pets?

Ultimately, not only are owners who don’t vaccinate their dogs putting them at risk to suffer from dangerous and lethal diseases, but they’re also contributing to making people more vulnerable to zoonotic diseases.

Every owner that chooses to not vaccine its dog shouldn’t have a dog in the first place.

If you’d like to read more stories consider subscribing to get notifications on new articles: