[ SHOWGSD-L ] URGENT ACTION ALERT: CALIFORNIA AB 272,
- From: Crossroadsgsd@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:04:39 -0400 (EDT)
URGENT ACTION ALERT: CALIFORNIA AB 272, which would lower the age at
which puppies must be vaccinated from four months to three months just passed
the Assembly Agriculture Committee and has been assigned to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee
_http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0251-0300/ab_272_vote_20130313_000001_asm_comm.html_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/bc00eb8258) .
What You Can Do to Help:
Contact Appropriations Committee members Mike Gatto (Chair) _(916)
319-2043_ (tel:(916)%20319-2043) _assemblymember.gatto@xxxxxx.gov_
(mailto:assemblymember.gatto@xxxxxxxxxx) & Susan T. Eggman
_assemblymember.eggman@xxxxxx.gov_ (mailto:assemblymember.eggman@xxxxxxxxxx)
_(916) 319-2013_
(tel:(916)%20319-2013) & ask them to OPPOSE AB 272.
Letter from The Rabies Challenge Fund to Assembly Members Gatto & Eggman
(link to committee comments on AB 272
_http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0251-0300/ab_272_cfa_20130311_134658_asm_comm.html_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/7d060b7856) )
March 14, 2013
Assemblymember Mike Gatto, Chair Assemblymember Susan T. Eggman, Chair
Assembly Appropriations Committee Assembly Agriculture Committee
RE: AB 272 An Act to Amend Section 121690 of the Health and Safety Code
Relating to Rabies
Greetings Assemblymembers Gatto and Eggman :
There are some misrepresentations and inaccuracies relating to AB 272
which should be clarified before another vote is taken on this measure. On
February 14, Dr. W. Jean Dodds, a California veterinarian, and Co-Trustee of
the Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust, corrected and clarified this
misinformation regarding AB 272 in an e-mail to the Acting Director of
Veterinary Public Health, Dr. Karen Ehnert, but apparently this information
was not
conveyed to the bill sponsor or members of the Agriculture or
Appropriations Committees (see attached e-mail), or it was disregarded.
The Agriculture Committee comments on AB 272 report that âCalifornia is
the only state that sets a minimum age of four months for dogs rabies
vaccination.â This statement is false. Only twelve (12) out of fifty (50)
states
require that dogs be vaccinated by 3 months (Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut,
Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
Oregon, Pennsylvania) . Thirteen (13) states require that dogs be
vaccinated by the age of 4 months (Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky,
Maryland,
Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia); one (1) state (Wisconsin) requires vaccination by 5 months; and six
(6)
require vaccination by the age of 6 months (Delaware, Iowa, Maine,
Massachusetts, Tennessee, West Virginia), and twelve (12) refer to the
National
Association of State Public Health Veterinariansâ Rabies Compendium which
recommends that rabies vaccines should be administered according to the
manufacturersâ labeled instructions. Rabies vaccine labels indicate that
they may
be given at 3 months, not that they must be. It is implied in the
comments that the Compendium advises that puppies should or must be vaccinated
at
3 months of age, which is not the case.
Merialâs IMRAB rabies vaccine labels indicate that they "can be
administered to puppies as early as 3 months of age" and Pfizerâs Defensor
rabies
vaccine labels advise that they are for dogs and cats â3 months of age or
older.â These instructions denote the minimum age at which it is safe to
administer rabies vaccines (i.e., do not administer before 3 months of age)
and
not a minimum age at which they must be administered to be effective.
Scientific data reflect that the later a puppy can be vaccinated, the more
likely the vaccine will have the desired immunological response due to reduced
interference of maternal antibodies, which are still present in 3 month old
puppies. The 2011 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine
Guidelines reports that: "Because dogs older than 14-16 wk of age are not
likely to have interfering levels of MDA [maternally derived antibodies],
administration of a single initial dose of an infectious vaccine to an adult
dog
can be expected to induce a protective immune response. ..... MDA is the
most common reason early vaccination fails to immunize." _[1]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/a72ba57b50)
Contributing to the likelihood of failure to achieve a proper immune
response to rabies vaccination at 3 months is that puppies are finishing up
their initial vaccination series of distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus at 12
weeks (3 months) of age. Addition of a rabies vaccine into the mix will not
only increase the possibility of adverse reactions, but also the probability
that the vaccine components will interfere with each other and neutralize or
negate an appropriate immunological response. _[2]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/b3beaf859b)
_[3]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/7228e82dd5)
In her e-mailed message concerning AB 272 to Dr. Dodds and me, Dr. Ehnert
wrote that: â[t]o clarify, the one word change allows for dogs to be
vaccinated at 3 months of age, but does not mandate it.â This is a
misrepresentation of the bill as worded and the committee summary declaring
that â[t]his
bill changes, from four months to three months, the age at which a dog is
required to be vaccinated against rabies." Addition of a clause such as "or
previously vaccinated at the age of three months in another state or
country with a rabies vaccine licensed by the USDA" to the current law
requiring
vaccination at four months would accomplish that goal without changing the
mandated age of vaccination to three months.
Dr. Ehnert also explained that one of the reasons she has âpushedâ for
this change is she and the Health Officers Association â⦠want to give
owners the opportunity to vaccinate puppies earlier when there is increased
risk. The past two years we have seen a 4 -5 fold increase in bat rabies in LA
County, with some areas being hot spots.â There has been no escalation in
canine rabies corresponding to the increase in bat rabies, which according
to the Department of Healthâs Reported Animal Rabies, for Los Angeles County
there were no cases of rabid dogs from 2010 through 2012, while there were
114 rabid bats (22 in 2010, 38 in 2011, and 54 in 2011ârepresenting an
increase of nearly 2.5 times instead of a 4-5 fold increase). Statewide, there
have only been three cases of rabies in dogs since 2007, as opposed to 981
rabid bats and 147 rabid skunks for the same period, which 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 Californiaâs
canine community and does not need to be changed.
To address the concern over a rising increase in rabies in the bat
population spilling over into the domestic pet population, Dr. Ehnert and
other
members of the Health Officers Association of California should request
introduction of a bill requiring that all cats in California be vaccinated
against rabies, as cats are reported to be 4 times as likely to be infected
with
rabies as dogs._[4]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/39a395ad8b)
The Chair of the Compendium of Animal Rabies
Prevention and Control Committee, Dr. Catherine M. Brown, stated that
â[b]ecause
more rabies cases are reported annually involving catsâ¦than dogs,
vaccination of cats should be required.â
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
Californiaâs
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, a registered California Charitable
Trust, and the many concerned California pet owners who have requested our
assistance, I strongly urge you to oppose passage of AB 272 as it is
currently written.
Respectfully submitted,
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
_www.RabiesChallengeFund.org_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/23f6330097)
_ledgespring@lincoln.midcoast.com_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/10d28eaa17)
Pages: 8
Attachment: 1
cc: Dr. W. Jean Dodds
Dr. Ronald Schultz
Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez
California Assembly
____________________________________
_[1]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/e0146bb867)
American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force.
2011 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature,
p.12
_[2]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/b6d4eec4eb)
American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force.
2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature,
p.16
_[3]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/3d66ffcc12)
Moore , et als., Adverse Events Diagnosed Within Three Days of
Vaccine Administration in Dogs; Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association., Vol. 227, No. 7, October 1, 2005
_[4]_
(http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RabiesChallengeFund/b792749cc1/c0ca2237f1/f8556ba95c)
Blanton JD, et al. Rabies Surveillance in the United States
During 2008. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 2009; 235:
676-690.
For a copy of e-mail correspondence between Dr. Karen Ehnert & Dr. W. Jean
Dodds and Kris L. Christine of The Rabies Challenge Fund on AB 272
referenced in this letter, please e-mail Kris L. Christine at
_ledgespring@lincoln.midcoast.com_ (mailto:ledgespring@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
.
CROSSROAD'S GERMAN SHEPHERDS
_www.sbrgsdc.org_ (http://www.sbrgsdc.org/)
_www.gsroc.org_ (http://www.gsroc.org/)
_www.coastalgsr.org_ (http://www.coastalgsr.org/)
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2012. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its
administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in
any post.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org
SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
============================================================================
Other related posts:
- » [ SHOWGSD-L ] URGENT ACTION ALERT: CALIFORNIA AB 272, - Crossroadsgsd
