Maybe I have misunderstood on core vaccines but I have also always understood there is -- as with say measles boosters in humans -- a specific window in which that first booster needs to be given, after the puppy series (as someone who got measles as an adult even though I had a childhood vaccine because it wasn't understood a booster was needed, given within a certain timeframe, I have first hand experience of that one). I have always understood that if it isn't given within that window then the puppy series needs to be done again... the norm for us in rescue as we cannot know if a dog has ever been vaccinated. I don't think for that initial 1 year booster that it can be given at any time in the years following and I was told the same for cats.
If the one year booster didn't matter then surely she'd suggest puppy series and nothing again for three years or unless needed? I also mentioned in another thread a case where cavalier breeders a few years ago lost some dogs to a distemper wave in I think the South in the US, and dogs that died were those below the 1-year booster age that had only had puppy jabs, or those older dogs that had the weaker version of the 1 year booster.
The only reason that the puppy series for parvo and distemper is a "series" is because the exact moment when maternal immunity ends can't be determined so vaccs are given at several week intervals to "cover all bases." For example, if you give the first and second puppy vaccs and the pup was covered by maternal immunity at those times, the vaccs are ineffective. If maternal immunity ends two weeks after you gave those two vaccs, your pup is vulnerable because the first two vaccs in the series didn't do anything. Research has determined the earliest and latest that maternal immunity ends, so the series covers all contingencies. This is not a series such as human vaccs for hepatitis, for example, where there is a "build-up" of immunity. One year boosters are extremely critical because they are given when a dog's immune system is fully mature. Puppy vaccs won't cover a dog for life because they are given to an animal with an immature immune system. A one year booster can potentially cover a dog for 7 to 15 years (per duration of immunity studies done by Ron Schultz). I adopted a young adult female off the street last year, and she did not require any "series" of vaccs. Because her history was unknown, she got ONE distemper/parvo vacc and ONE rabies vacc. Period. This is because she was an adult and her immune system was fully mature. I could now go to a three year protocol if I so desire, or I can end vaccinations forever if that is my choice and I decide to break the rabies law. What the heck is "the weaker version of the one year booster for parvo"??? If you are giving adult rescues multiple parvo, distemper and rabies vaccs, you are wasting money and needlessly assailing a dog's immune system.
Pat - links and direct quotes from links below:
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODDS-CHG-VACC-PROTOCOLS.HTM
Quote from Dr. Dobbs found at above link: "As combination vaccines contain antigens other than those of the clinically important infectious disease agents, some may be unnecessary; and their use may increase the risk of adverse reactions. With the exception of a recently introduced mutivalent Leptospira spp. vaccine, the other leptospirosis vaccines afford little protection against the clinically important fields strains of leptospirosis, and the antibodies they elicit typically last only a few months."
http://www.caberfeidh.com/PuppyVax.htm
"Conventional vaccine protocols are designed to give multiple vaccinations to puppies a few weeks apart. Most people and even many veterinarians believe that more than one vaccine is needed to "prime" the immune system or build immunity, but in the case of modified live virus vaccines for parvo and distemper, this isn't really necessary.
We don't repeat vaccinations for parvo and distemper because we need vaccines more than once to form immunity. They are repeated for two basic reasons only: Habit, and to catch those few individuals who for some reason don't respond to the first vaccination. A single immunizing dose of a modified live virus vaccine - in other words, one vaccine that works - will form long term, probably lifetime, immunity to parvo and distemper. (Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XIII; 2000; "Vaccines and Vaccinations: Issue for the 21st Century", Richard B. Ford and Ronald D. Schultz; (Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XI, "Canine and Feline Vaccines," Phipps, Schultz; R.D. Schultz, "Considerations in Designing Effective and Safe Vaccination Programs for Dogs," May 2000; Schultz, "Duration of Immunity to Canine Vaccines: What We Know and Don't Know.")"
"Some puppies will be given a vaccination and not form immunity (seroconvert). This can be due to improper vaccine storage or administration, but it's usually due to improper timing of the vaccine. Puppies get antibodies (passive immunity) from their mothers in the two days after birth, from the colustrum. If you vaccinate a puppy at a time when maternal antibody levels are high, those antibodies can prevent the virus in the vaccine from triggering immunity in the puppy. It's possible for a pup to have enough maternal antibody to inactivate the parvo vaccine, but not enough to protect from disease."
The answer is not to vaccinate earlier or more frequently, but to vaccinate scientifically. Earlier vaccination is clearly a doomed strategy, because maternal antibody wears off over time, and the puppy would have had more, not less, maternal antibody at a younger age. More frequent vaccination will often make the problem worse, as well, because it takes up to two weeks for immunity form after a vaccination is given; it's not instantaneous. If another vaccine, even for a different virus, is given during the two week period following a vaccination, it can interfere with the immunity from the first vaccine as well as the second. Waiting a bare minimum of two weeks between vaccinations is an immunological requirement. Three is better.
This problem is actually less critical than it was in the past. In the early 90s, Dr. Ronald Schultz did a study showing that some available canine parvovirus vaccines were not providing protection even when given according to label directions. Since then, nearly all approved canine parvovirus vaccines have been reformulated to break through resistance from maternal antibodies, and provide immunity at a much younger age, so this problem is less common now. These are called "high titer" vaccines.
Other causes for non-conversion include improper vaccine shipping, storage, or handling, using a low quality vaccine, or immune problems in the puppy. Most of the time when dogs get a disease shortly after vaccination, it's because the dog encounters the pathogen in a vet's office, a vaccine clinic, or a shelter. It is not a case of primary vaccination failure. It is a case of the dog not being immunized at all at the time they encounter the virus. However, while extremely rare, it's not completely unknown for modified live viruses to "revert to virulence" and become able to cause the very disease they were given to prevent. In order to determine if this happened, have your veterinarian order a DNA test on your puppy's virus, to see if it's the "wild" parvovirus, or the vaccine strain. If it is the vaccine strain, the vaccine manufacturer should be reported and should be liable for all your veterinary bills as well. Contact an attorney for more information. I should stress again that this rarely happens.