A new wave of vaccine suspicion has extended to our pets, a new study found.
Published Sunday in the journal Vaccine, the study surveyed 2,200 people on their opinions regarding routine vaccinations given to pet dogs, specifically rabies vaccines.
Of those polled, 37% believe canine vaccination is unsafe, 22% feel it’s ineffective and 30% find it unnecessary. Overall, a whopping 53% hold at least one of these beliefs.
The results surprised Matt and Gabriella Motta, the brother-sister duo who conducted the study alongside co-researcher Dominik Stecula.
“We were pretty surprised because we knew that this phenomenon would exist, anecdotally we had good reason to believe that it was, but we were pretty stunned,” Matt Motta, a political scientist and researcher at Boston University’s School of Public Health, told USA TODAY. “The sheer volume of people who hold these opinions was quite striking…that, to me, is pretty alarming.”
The study also found the persistence of long-disproven vaccine myths that usually apply to humans, with nearly 40% of respondents expressing concern that vaccines could cause their dogs to develop autism.
“I believe the COVID-19 vaccine has fundamentally changed the way that Americans view vaccination in general,” said Motta. “I think alarmingly that could be spilling over to shape how people feel about attitude toward vaccinating their pets and frankly, who knows what else? You know, it could go even further.”
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A veterinarian’s perspective
Gabriella Motta, a board-certified veterinarian, said she believes the hesitancy comes not only from pet owners’ love for their dogs, but a lack of experience with the illnesses routine vaccines protect against.
“I think when owners are questioning the vaccine, they’re coming from a place where they truly care about their dogs and they don’t want their dogs to be a guinea pig or,…
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