Reporting Adverse Reactions to Vaccines

Under-reporting of vaccine-associated reactions is recognized as a major limitation to effective vaccine surveillance. Vaccine manufacturers do collect information on individual vaccines and report findings to the United States Department of Agriculture Center for Veterinary Biologics. Such surveillance programs alert the USDA and the manufacturer to potential problems with vaccine constituents that may arise in certain lots (batches) of vaccine preparations. Vaccine lots that may incur higher than average reports of adverse reactions are then pulled from the market and the constituents and the formulation and preparation methods reviewed for the purpose of identifying the cause, as well as correcting any weaknesses in standard operating procedures involved in manufacturing the product.

Reporting adverse reactions to a vaccine is the responsibility of the veterinarian, however, because there are currently no uniform standards established by veterinarians, vaccine manufacturers, or the USDA for reporting adverse effects, vaccine reactions often go under-reported. Additionally, because some adverse reactions may occur as latent manifestations (as many as 3-6 months after immunization), the relationship between the vaccine and the reaction may be overlooked. It is, therefore, recommended that a pet owner, who believes that his/her dog has demonstrated an adverse reaction to a vaccine, file a "Vaccine Incident Report" in collaboration with the veterinarian and submit this report to the technical services section of the vaccine manufacturer.

Form for Reporting Adverse Reactions to Vaccines
(directions for printing out form:
1) click on the above link to access the form
2) on your browser bar at the top of the page, select "File"
3) click on "Print Preview" in the drop-down menu
4) select "one page" on the top bar of the print preview page
5) click on "Print"

Some Addresses for Vaccine Manufacturers:

Bayer Corp.-Animal Health
Technical Services Department
P.O. Box 390
Shawnee, KS, 66201

Fort Dodge Animal Health
Technical Services Department
800 5th St NW
Fort Dodge, IA 50501-7425

Pfizer Animal Health Inc.
Technical Services Department
812 Springdale Dr.
Exton, PA, 19341

Rhone Merieux Inc. Animal Health
Technical Services Department
115 Transtech Dr
Athens, GA, 30601

Schering-Plough Animal Health USA
Technical Services Department
1095 Morris Ave.
Union, NJ, 07083

Smithkline Beecham Animal Health
Technical Services Department
One Franklin Plaza
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101 U.S.A.

Copyright © 2002. Pamela A. Davol. All rights reserved. Copyright & disclaimer.

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