The Stupid Anti-Vaxx Movement Is Now Affecting People’s Pets. Everything Is Awful.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

As IFL Science notes, people worried about how vaccines affect humans have their fears rootes in a fraudulent study by ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield. The study linked the MMR vaccine and the appearance of autism, but it was pulled from the journal in which it appeared after they found a “fatal conflict of interest,” dubious data, and generally fishy research methods. Wakefield is now no longer allowed to practice medicine.

Despite the links being proven again, again, and again, some anti-vaxxers just refuse to see the light. Now they’re extending their head in the sand attitude about vaccines to their pets.

Vets are warning that they’re seeing an increased number of people not vaccinating dogs out of fear they will contract illnesses, including “pet autism,” which doesn’t exist.

Vets are warning that they're seeing an increased number of people not vaccinating dogs out of fear they will contract illnesses, including "pet autism," which doesn't exist.

Flickr / Army Medicine

“We do see a higher number of clients who don’t want to vaccinate their animals,” Dr Amy Ford of the Veterinarian Wellness Center of Boerum Hill told the Brooklyn Paper last year. “This may be stemming from the anti-vaccine movement, which people are applying to their pets.”

“We do see a higher number of clients who don’t want to vaccinate their animals,” Dr Amy Ford of the Veterinarian Wellness Center of Boerum Hill told the Brooklyn Paper last year. “This may be stemming from the anti-vaccine movement, which people are applying to their pets.”

Flickr / NIAID

Like humans, pets rely on herd immunity to stay safe and they are the most effective way to keep your pet safe from preventable diseases that easily spread.

So unless you want your fur baby to get rabies, canine parvovirus, canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus, and more, it’s best to keep them vaccinated and to follow the advice of veterinarians.

(via IFL Science)

I know I’d do anything to keep my animals safe. Refusing to vaccinate flies in the face of everything we know to be true and it can shorten our pets’ lives.

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