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Discussion on Is it Legal to give WMV myself?
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 10:10 am:
DrO,
I've always given vaccinations myself. I thought only vets could give West Nile but the other day I got a catalog that offers it for sale. There isn't anything saying you need a prescription.
I know here in MI, I can give Rabies shots but if there was an incident with one of our dogs legally it wouldn't be recognised.
Just for the record, I won't be trying to order this. Only comes in 10 dose amounts; but if it came in single doses I would be interested if it was legal.
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Member:
karent
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 12:20 pm:
Angie,
You can absolutely give your own West Nile Shots. I have been doing it for the past 3 years, and it is legal. You can usually buy a single dose in your local tack shop that sells vaccines. In fact, I just bought all my vaccines yesterday, including West Nile, and gave them to my horses last night
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 1:16 pm:
Karen,
I've never noticed it locally but now you've got me wondering. I seem to always order from catalogs and forget we've got 2 feed stores here that carry many vaccinations. I don't know that I've ever seen WNV in a catalog so I assumed only vets could administer it.
Wonder if it just that the vets around here want us to think that way?
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Member:
karent
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 1:57 pm:
Typically, the magazines only sell WN in 10 dose increments. The tack stores did that as well in the beginning a few years ago, but changed that policy a couple years back.
Both of the tack stores in Taos, where I live, sell WN in single doses. I bought mine yesterday for $17.00 each, a little expensive, but still less than a farm call plus shots would have cost.
My Vet told me in the past that alot of his money is made selling medications and vaccines to customers. I bought a vile of banamine from him for $100.00. He would not give me a prescription so I could buy it off the internet for $25-30 per vile. I can understand that he needs to make a living, and should make a profit on selling meds, but charging customers $70.00 over what the internet charges is a little steep.
I called my former Vet in California and he was kind enough to send me a prescriptions for banamine, bute and SMZ's. We worked at the same barn together, so he knew that I was capable of knowing how and when to dispense these meds.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 8:45 pm:
Hello Angie,
Once the feds sign off on a vaccine, these laws are determined by state law so there will be differences from state to state. In NC both rabies and WNV are still by veterinary admin only, if the law has not changed recently.
Originally the reason for veterinary administration for WNV was because of the hurried up approval and concerns with safety and efficacy. Veterinary administration helped keep tabs on this and actually became the basis for eventual approval. However as the vaccine has been proved to safe and efficacious it is hard to justify continued veterinary supervision from my perspective.
Though a argument can be made for the continued veterinary supervision of rabies vaccine because of the threat of human exposure to a horrible and incurable disease, such is not the case with WNV where the horse is a dead end host. When infected with WNV he is not contagious to other horses or humans so this really should be a decision for owners to make.
DrO
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Member:
tangoh
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 4, 2007 - 11:40 am:
I've been told never to buy vaccine from the feed stores. It's unclear how it's been shipped, handled, stocked etc. Has the cold chain been broken? How long did it sit in a box on the floor of the tack store before it went into the fridge?
I'm sure some tack / feed stores are more diligent than others, but to be safe, I only buy our vaccine from our local vet college and I take it home in a styrofoam cooler with an ice pack so not to break the cold chain which can render a vaccine useless.
Our equine insurance policy also states that the WNV must be given by a DVM for our insurance to be valid. So you might want to check out your policies too.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 4, 2007 - 1:47 pm:
Thanks DrO,
and good point Sherri.
Our local feed store is run by a "city ya hoo" and talking anything Equine with him is a joke. I know they carry vaccines but I've never bought them. Our main large animal vet will DrOp stuff off there if she can't get to you and I feel safe getting things that way as I get it the same day.
It seems the manufactors of the WNV are still thinking only vets can give the shot as I haven't come up with a single dose yet for my use. The websites that do sell it, sell it in 10 doses only and they are very close dated. I did find an article that said why initially only vets were supposed to give it but I think it was from 2004.
So it would seem in time we would be able to find it available in single use syrings for horse owners.
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Member:
tangoh
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 4, 2007 - 2:27 pm:
I asked our local equine insurer today exactly why I need a vet to administer the vaccine in order for the policy to be valid, especially if the horse dies from colic, or an accident. I wanted to know what bearing does the DVM administered WNV vaccine have on the policy in that scenario.
She told me that it would only affect the coverage if the horse died of WNV and if the vaccine wasn't administered by a vet then the claim might not be approved. Of course I'm assuming if I vaccinate for WNV my horse WON'T die from it, but....
The reason she gave me for WHY a DVM must vaccinate the horse now for WNV is because the vaccine is less than 5 years old.
We are able here in Saskatchewan to buy single dose WNV vaccine from our vet college. I bought the single doses last year too.
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