Proposal would loosen rabies vaccine requirements for certain pets — for a fee

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is considering a bill that would exempt some pets from booster shots intended to protect against rabies, but state veterinarians said the proposal was not founded on solid data.

Rep. Keith Ammon, a New Boston Republican, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 1488, which would allow pet owners to bypass a state-required rabies booster by presenting the results of a test affirming their pet has some level of immunity to the deadly disease in their system from a previous vaccine. 

The proposal, Ammon said, was requested by a constituent seeking a way to bypass the state’s requirement because of concerns about secondary effects of the vaccine and a belief that the current schedule is excessive. But a decrease in rabies vaccination rates could be deadly for both people and animals, and the alternative testing called for in the proposal does not provide sufficient evidence that an animal is immune to rabies, said New Hampshire State Veterinarian Mark Prescott.

New Hampshire law currently requires dogs, cats, and ferrets older than 3 months of age receive an initial rabies vaccine followed by a series of booster shots on a schedule determined by a national veterinary organization. HB 1488 leaves in place the requirement for an initial vaccine and subsequent booster, but would allow pet owners to bypass further boosters if they continue to present valid test results.

Some pet owners at a Feb. 17 public hearing spoke in favor of the bill, saying the current protocol required to attain a medical exemption for their pet was too difficult.

There is no cure for rabies, which can be passed from animals to humans and is “virtually 100% fatal” once symptoms appear, according to the World Health Organization. 

In some regions where vaccination is not widespread, animal-to-human transmission of rabies is a significant public health problem, according to the WHO; worldwide, the virus causes tens of thousands of deaths annually. In most of those cases, the disease is transmitted by a dog, Prescott said at a work session Feb. 24.

During the session, Rep. Kelley Potenza, a Republican from Rochester, asked whether children had died of rabies in New Hampshire in recent history. Assistant State Veterinarian Nathan Harvey said the answer was no and attributed that to the success of the state’s vaccine program. 

While it is locally uncommon in domestic animals, rabies is relatively common in New Hampshire wildlife, including bats, raccoons, and foxes. Pets may encounter it through run-ins with wild species, said Prescott.

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The protocol for obtaining a rabies vaccine exemption for a pet, as proposed in HB 1488, calls for a pet owner to attain a test known as an antibody titer test, then share those results with a veterinarian. Antibodies are generated by the immune system in response to infection or vaccination; they allow the body to remember, and respond, if it encounters that pathogen again in the future. The results of a rabies titer test reveal whether an animal has, or has not, been vaccinated against rabies, Prescott said Feb. 24.

However, he said, it is not standard for veterinarians to use the tests to determine whether an animal has enough memory in their immune system to be effectively safe from rabies. Researchers have not yet decided on a threshold value for the antibody content in domestic animals’ blood that confers immunity, he said. Without that data, the test results do not help a veterinarian determine whether an animal needs a booster shot or not to be protected from the disease.

Only two laboratories in the nation conduct these tests, said Ammon. They generally cost between $300 and $500.

However, Ammon and some pet owners said they were willing to pursue this proposed route to an exemption because of concern about vaccine side effects.

Rep. Diane Kelly, a co-sponsor of the bill and a Republican from Temple, said she had been compelled to vaccinate her aged and sick dog, against her wishes.

“Current New Hampshire law makes it exceptionally difficult to obtain exemptions, effectively compelling vaccination of animals for whom the vaccine poses a greater risk than the disease itself,” Ammon said. 

Harvey disagreed.

“No adverse reaction is as bad as getting rabies itself,” he said. 

Ultimately, he said, maintaining the rabies vaccine schedule was important for pets and humans alike. However, he did not rule out the possibility that with more research, delaying vaccination based on titer test results would become a viable option for pet owners in the future.

“We oppose this bill, but we see a future for the science, we see a future for titers,” Harvey said.