48. Myth or Real? Vaccination protocols can be dependent upon many factors (such as risk of disease, age of the horse, region of the country and current use of the horse) and can change from one year to the next.

Answer: Real

There are often more questions than answers for both owners and veterinarians when the subject of vaccination of horses is discussed. When? How often? Which vaccine? Which vaccine product? Which horse? Intramuscular vs. intranasal? Killed vs. modified live vs. live vaccine?
It can be a bit overwhelming, but thankfully there is a set of guidelines that owners and veterinarians can use to help to tailor a vaccination program that will work for each horse and their owner. The American Association of Equine Practitioners has, on its website, a lot of updated information on vaccination as well as an easy to read chart that looks at core vaccines and risk-based vaccines. The link to this site is:

http://www.aaep.org/info/vaccination-guidelines-265

These vaccination guidelines are reviewed by a group of veterinarians whose expertise includes immunology and infectious disease and are based on good science and current research. Each owner and veterinarian should consider these recommendations as well as each horse’s health status, environment, risk factors, age and use. This is a very good place for all of us to start as we put together the preventative medicine programs for our horses each year.