Why Not Just Measure Antibody Titers Before Deciding to Vaccinate?
Recently, there is much discussion on taking titers rather than just giving boosters. This is not well founded. Vaccines are generally short-lived, and not effective after a few months, so you shouldn’t vaccinate less. A titer, which generally will be quite low after vaccination, will be hard to interpret. No one knows the titer that is “protective” against each disease – it might be small some times, and greater in the face of an outbreak. The treatment of the disease in an unvaccinated animal can be prolonged and more expensive. And last, in some cases the unvaccinated animal will die from the disease (e.g. tetanus, encephalitis), which was wholly preventable. It is important to stay with the program, even if the vaccines aren’t perfect.
