The impact of anti-vaccine activists is spreading beyond humans. A recent study found many dog owners are skeptical of vaccinating their pets — even though that leaves animals and humans at risk.

The study, led by a researcher from Boston University’s School of Public Health and published in the journal Vaccine, found a sizable minority of dog owners have some hesitancy toward canine vaccines. Over one-third (37%) said they believed the shots were unsafe; 22% thought they were ineffective; and 30% thought they were unnecessary. Overall, 53% of dog owners endorsed at least one of these three misconceptions.

“My co-authors and I were stunned by how prevalent this phenomenon is,” lead author Dr. Matt Motta told CBS News.

Motta says an unvaccinated pet is a danger not just to other animals but also to the humans around them.

“If there are more unvaccinated dogs out there, the risk of disease transmission grows,” Motta said.

  • monk@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    We can try and ignore it until people start dying from rabies because fucktards think the vaccine will make their labridoodle autistic

    • mememuseum@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Eventually one of these antivax fuckers is going to get rabies from an unvaccinated pet or something and then when they start having symptoms they’ll change their tune and beg to be saved but it’ll be far too late.