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RHD2 vaccine - has the recommendations changed?

cpayne

Warren Veteran
Does anyone know if the recommendations for the RHD2 vaccine has changed. Doughnut was having hers every 6 months as quite a few have died in our area so 6 months was recommended. She's had two and is due for her 6 monthly one in September. I rang to book her in but the guy said if she's an indoor rabbit she should have it yearly and 6 monthly is for outdoor rabbits. I may call up at a later date to get it confirmed with Mark as he had told me to go every 6 months. I'm thinking I did speak to a vet though so I don't want to just dismiss his advice!
 
Does anyone know if the recommendations for the RHD2 vaccine has changed. Doughnut was having hers every 6 months as quite a few have died in our area so 6 months was recommended. She's had two and is due for her 6 monthly one in September. I rang to book her in but the guy said if she's an indoor rabbit she should have it yearly and 6 monthly is for outdoor rabbits. I may call up at a later date to get it confirmed with Mark as he had told me to go every 6 months. I'm thinking I did speak to a vet though so I don't want to just dismiss his advice!


I would confirm it with Mark. However, the recommendation is now for yearly vaccine, as it's effective for that length of time.

If you look back to my thread here:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...HD2-Updated-10th-August-2017-New-Cases/page53

Post no 530 ...

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/media/documents/filavac.doc

They clearly state that vaccination is annual and not every six months.


As I said, I would confirm with Mark, even though you have already spoken with a vet. If that's not too difficult to do :)
 
I don't like the indoor-outdoor scenario you have been given but the general advice is that Filavac should be given at 12 monthly intervals except for very high risk situations. These situations would include RHD2 outbreak in your own premises or your neighbours.

Some still advise 6 monthly if the rabbits are going into boarding and haven't had a booster in the last 6 months.
 
I guess the indoor scenario may be more like my rabbits. Come March time I start thinking about putting mine outside for some time on grass and I like to do boosters about then as winter is a bit less of a risk for them. Not a total absence of risk I know but less.

I've already spoken with cpayne on Facebook but when I took mine for their combi vac last week Trinity were recommending having the first two VHD2 vaccines six months apart and then annually and trying to get it six months apart from the combi vaccine so they have a twice yearly vet check. Bit like when we had the separate myxi and VHD vaccines.
 
The new datasheet, which was published as part of its UK licence approval in April, simply states duration of immunity 12m. The earlier imported ones said duration of immunity 12m but you can boost at 6m if you like. Many vets are still using up imported stock so will still have the data sheet which suggests booster at 6m.

FHB spoke to the manufacturers about this and I also spoke to them at the RWAF conference. Reassuringly, they told us both the same thing ;-) In essence, immunity has always been established as at least 12m in their clinical trials. But meat farms were reporting continued outbreaks of RHD2 before the 12 months were up. Which is pretty obvious really because a meat farm will have a very high turnover of animals - if they are batch vaccinating on a single day, there will be animals in varying states of health/pregnancy/lactation/days old/not born yet/not old enough for the vaccine, and these animals are therefore still potentially able to get infected before the next batch vaccination is due. So because of this, the data sheet recommended that a further booster could be given to all the animals after 6m.

The situation with our pet rabbits is completely different - with each of them reviewed and health checked individually and confirmed that they are an appropriate age/health etc to have the vaccine, and a record made that they have definitely had it. So for the vast majority of cases, the duration of immunity should be 12m as per their clinical trials. Of course there is always a little risk that a vaccine hasn't 'taken' for some reason, hence it may be wise to err on the side of caution in circumstances where animals are under high stress for some reason or if there are cases very close by. It shouldn't be necessary in most cases, as the vaccine should still be good for a year, but I guess some may wish to play it extra safe. Personally I'm happy with every 12m now I understand how that advice arose in the first place.
 
The new datasheet, which was published as part of its UK licence approval in April, simply states duration of immunity 12m. The earlier imported ones said duration of immunity 12m but you can boost at 6m if you like. Many vets are still using up imported stock so will still have the data sheet which suggests booster at 6m.

FHB spoke to the manufacturers about this and I also spoke to them at the RWAF conference. Reassuringly, they told us both the same thing ;-) In essence, immunity has always been established as at least 12m in their clinical trials. But meat farms were reporting continued outbreaks of RHD2 before the 12 months were up. Which is pretty obvious really because a meat farm will have a very high turnover of animals - if they are batch vaccinating on a single day, there will be animals in varying states of health/pregnancy/lactation/days old/not born yet/not old enough for the vaccine, and these animals are therefore still potentially able to get infected before the next batch vaccination is due. So because of this, the data sheet recommended that a further booster could be given to all the animals after 6m.

The situation with our pet rabbits is completely different - with each of them reviewed and health checked individually and confirmed that they are an appropriate age/health etc to have the vaccine, and a record made that they have definitely had it. So for the vast majority of cases, the duration of immunity should be 12m as per their clinical trials. Of course there is always a little risk that a vaccine hasn't 'taken' for some reason, hence it may be wise to err on the side of caution in circumstances where animals are under high stress for some reason or if there are cases very close by. It shouldn't be necessary in most cases, as the vaccine should still be good for a year, but I guess some may wish to play it extra safe. Personally I'm happy with every 12m now I understand how that advice arose in the first place.


Santa, may I cross post this on my RHD2 thread?
 
Thanks everyone. I'm totally happy with 12 months now I have all the information. I just wanted to make sure she was as protected as possible.
 
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