Yesterday, written in the FML:
>There are enough studies with people, cats and dogs that show that
>annual vaccination is not necessary and is harmful.

Oh, man. I don't want to get dragged into this one again. We seem
to have it out every year.It's kind of like Raw VS. Kibble. I will
only say that having been to fourteen different countries, some not
fortunate enough to be able to afford the sort of veterany and human
vaccinations that we enjoy here in the richest country in the world,
(And they beg--literally *beg* us for for vaccinations for their
children, even when they hate our Yankee guts, except for the
occasional far-out folks who think we are trying to sterilize their
women )...I'd much rather take the roll of the dice *here*, risk
the harm *here* with toxic modern medicine, than bask in the rosy,
all-natural, organic glow of polio, river blindness, leprosy, malaria,
or rabies. The world has already been cheated out of the robust and
envigorating experience of smallpox by short sighted western
physicians,(now *that's* my idea of a cardio work-out! Feel the burn!)
but bio-warfare still offers us some dim glimmer of hope where that
one is concerned.

I'm done for this year.

Alexandra in MA
Ping: What's she chuckling about?
Puma:I don't want to know!

[Moderator's note: In an attempt to avert a heated deabte, please let
me state what I believe to be the state of the controversy:

1) Vaccines do indeed prevent serious disease and are a good thing.
2) OVER-VACCINATING is a potential issue. Many people feel vaccinating
year after year is at best unnecessary and at worst harmful. In fact...
3) There is much support for the over-vaccination theory -- even in
mainstream animal care communities. So much so that many, or even most,
clinics no longer vaccinate for some diseases annually after a point,
and stretch things out for 2 or 3 years.
4) Problems with this are that it's hard to tell when an animal is
sufficiently vaccinated to be protected. Also, the annual vaccination
ritual was a good opportunity to have the animals examined.
5) Many laws require rabies vaccination on a fixed schedule, even if
that schedule might be too frequent for some. Fortunately, the rabies
vaccines seems to be somewhat less troublesome than some others.

My point is that relatively few people think vaccines are bad, per se.
It's a question of when too much of a good thing is bad! :-).  BIG]

[Posted in FML 5705]