Management Strategies to Enhance Vaccine Efficacy

What can owners do to enhance their horses’ response to vaccination, enhance vaccine efficacy, and better
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With summer just around the corner, many of us are getting ready to enjoy the prime time for equine activities. Horse shows, rodeos, roping events, jumping, dressage, and trail riding are just a few of the many events that we take part in with our horses. Along with our horses’ increased activity and travel, however, comes an increased threat of infectious disease–in particular, infectious upper respiratory diseases such as equine influenza, equine herpesvirus (rhinopneumonitis), and strangles.

The key component of an infectious disease control program is a good vaccination program developed in conjunction with your veterinarian. However, owners should recognize that vaccination programs will not succeed without appropriate horse management practices. Vaccine efficacy is dependent not only on the vaccine itself, but also on your horse’s individual immune system, how you manage him, and his level of exposure to infectious agents or disease. Vaccines are not 100% effective, and many variables affect how your horse responds to the vaccine, how well it works, and how well he is protected following vaccination. As horse owners and veterinarians, we tend to think that following vaccination the horse is immediately protected and that the protection is 100% complete. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Following vaccination, the horse must mount an immunologic response to the vaccine (i.e., develop antibodies and/or cellular immune responses against the infectious agent for which you are vaccinating). Response to vaccination is not immediate, so time must be allowed (generally at least 14 days) for the horse to respond to the vaccine. Most vaccines require two doses at four- to six-week intervals for primary immunization (the first time the horse is vaccinated). Therefore, if your horse has never been vaccinated against the disease, optimum response to vaccination will not occur until approximately two weeks after the second dose.

Also, not all horses will mount an immunological response to vaccination. Furthermore, of those that do respond there is a great deal of variation between responses (i.e., some horses respond very well and some horses respond poorly). In most situations about 10% of vaccinated horses respond poorly to vaccination and, therefore, might not be adequately protected against disease. So what can owners do to enhance their horses’ response to vaccination, enhance vaccine efficacy, and better protect horses against infectious and contagious diseases? Answer: Apply intelligent and appropriate management strategies

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Written by:

D. Craig Barnett, DVM, serves as a senior equine technical services veterinarian with Merck Animal Health, where he provides continuing education to equine practitioners and conducts presentations on the use of vaccines and pharmaceuticals to horse owners and veterinarians.

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