Vaccinations ...

[TheBrokeHorse]

Hey!

So I had recently gotten a new horse and we also decided to insure her. Now we have Equine Influenza which is supposed to be given every six months but due to some miscommunication I learnt now that she needed to do her next vaccination on the 27th May and not June. I am bit fearful what the insurance will have to say about that.

But my question is must a vaccination happen on the exact date the previous one was?

Also I noticed that instead of always six months her previous owner vaccinated two or five or even eleven month after. I am not sure how it works with foals and vaccinations but at two or three years old shouldn't it be within the time span?

Also what can happen if you vaccinate too early? Any effects?

We also recently had a outbreak of AHS (African Horse Sickness) which seems to have stopped but because of it the vaccination time line for the vaccines have changed but I prefer the how we had been doing it previously. Can I stick to how we did it before or must I change it? I have doubts about the time line change for it as well.

Thanks in advance

 

[Shay]

You're clearly not in the UK - I can only tell you how it works here...

If you miss the due date for a vaccination you have to go right back to the beginning and start again. So initial injection, another 4 - 6 weeks later. Another within 6 months and then annually thereafter. But if you are late - even by 1 day - you have to go back to the beginning and start over.

In practical terms the horse does not loose its immunity of course. But in the UK you cannot attend many show venues unless you have an up to date vaccine record. If your insurance specifies an up to date record then I suspect you will have to start the hole thing again I'm afraid!

 

[wkiwi]

You might find this article useful (webaddress pasted below - sorry can't remember how to do links) , as it explains how the antibody levels in the horse drop with time. All horses antibody levels will start dropping within a short time after vaccination (the aim is to get the levels high enough to last until the next booster) but every horse is affected differently so vaccine recommendations are based on averages.
The 6 versus 12 monthly recommendations depend on the level of risk (talk to your local vet) and show regulations (FEI is six months plus 21 days) but there is no risk of giving a vaccine early.
Don't forget tetanus vaccinations too.

http://equinefreelance.com/free-articles/flu/