Vmd Position Paper on Authorised Vaccination Schedules for Dogs

Since Pasteur’s work, vaccination against infectious disease has been used successfully to protect animals from many serious diseases some of which were also significant risks to humans. Veterinary vaccine development has paralleled the research and development of vaccines in the human field. However, in veterinary medicine there is a much wider range of products reflecting the diversity of animal species and the plethora of diseases that may commonly affect companion and food producing animals. As a consequence the incidence of many common, life threatening and debilitating diseases is now low and the development of safe and effective veterinary vaccines can be said to have been a major success story for improvement in animal health and welfare.