WNV vaccine-which is best for pregnant mares?

[Contessa]

Which one do you use and have you ever had any problems with it? I don't want my mares to abort but my vet says both are safe for pregnant mares. We have had too much rain this year and I can't possibly find all the pools of water that are hatching mosquitoes. I'm nervous about this but really think I should vaccinate this year.

 

[CrescentMinis]

I know how you feel, I followed my vet's recommendation and gave the 2 WNV shots for the first time (they needed a booster 4 weeks after initial shot). Now I really hope we don't have any problems settling or carrying the 2 pregnancies planned for 2009!

Watching to see what others have to say on this topic.

I believe it was the Ft. Dodge vaccine.

 

[MyBarakah]

You DO NOT give pregnant mares the "new" West Nile shot. You give them the "old" shot that they say to give 2 times a year. You would give your mare this shot, but you DO NOT need to booster her in 4 weeks. I have never been told by a vet to booster in 4 weeks for the west nile. If the mare's in foal I would give the shot 4-6 weeks before she foals so the foal has some antibodies for it.

I do NOT like Ft. Dodge vaccines..... I like the Intervert the best....

 

[Minimor]

The "old" WNV shots are given twice, 4-6 week apart, if the horse has never been vaccinated for WNV before.

We started out using the original Fort Dodge vaccine--gave it to all our pregnant mares with no problems. The one year we did use the Merial vaccine and gave that to our bred mares as well--again, with no problems. It was only later that I was told that it shouldn't be given to pregnant mares because it is a modified live virus vaccine. I mentioned this to our vet, and she said oh, she hadn't even thought about that. (Obviously, neither had I!! ) In any case, we had no problems from it, at least not in terms of the pregnant mares. We did have some major neck lumps from giving the Merial--they took ages to go away--and because of that we went back to the FD vaccine. However, the past two years & again this year we switched to the FD combo shot which covers E/W/T + WNV--again, that's been given to the bred mares with no problems.

The FD combo shot is actually the only thing that is available at most clinics here this year. One clinic (not any of the local ones) did have the Merial, and my vet said she would order in the Prevenile if we wanted. We chose to go with the combo shot again. Because our mosquito season is relatively short, we only give the vaccine once a year, in early to mid May. By the time it's effectiveness starts to drop off, our mosquito season is pretty much over.

But, to answer your question--I believe the Prevenile is also a modified live virus type and so probably is not labelled for pregnant mares (I haven't seen the vaccine's label or product insert so can't say for sure what it says).

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I BELIEVE that Previnile IS labled for pregnant mares... but I don't remember for sure.

 

[crponies]

Here's the label for it: Prevenile

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

"Of the 919 horses vaccinated, 229 were 4 months of age or younger, and 302 were pregnant mares, including 17 mares in the first trimester of gestation, 11 mares in the second trimester of gestation and 274 mares in the third trimester of gestation. No post vaccinal adverse events were observed in any of the foals or mares."

Yup! Should be safe for pregnant mares

 

[disneyhorse]

I don't give it to pregnant mares, I wait until they have foaled out and then give.

Andrea

 

[bingo]

It is my understanding that according to the makers of all the vaccines they are all safe to give to pregnant mares. The Fort Dodge does require a booster for horses never vaccinated before.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

There is no evidence that any will cause a high number of abortions, but so far Previnile is the only one LABLED for pregnant mares. Big farms have been giving the FD vaccine to pregnant herds for years with great success, but they weren't specifically guarenteed for pregnant mares.

Both the FD and the Recombitek vaccines require boosters. A vet friend/ex-employer who did some of the intial testing for Ft Dodge way back when recommended TWO boosters with their vaccine. The Recombitek vaccine is far superior to the Ft Dodge version, and only requires one booster, even if they have been previously vaccinated with FD. The Previnile vaccine requires no booster, even if the horse is nieve.

 

[Contessa]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread and thanks everyone for all the info. I guess I am going to order the Previnile since they did include pregnant mares in their study. By the way, my vet flipped out when I told her I could buy it online. She said it is prescription and should only be available to vets. It's going to cost me $200 for a 10 dose vial. If she gave the shots it would cost me closer to $600!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Its not a perscription, the vet needs to check her facts It IS restricted however, but that's ENTIRELY due to the manufacturer making a deal with vets to keep prices up. There is no law making it a script, just limiting sales to vets by the manufacturers.