DreamCatchers<br/> Equine Rescue Inc.

As most of you know, I lost my Little Bit on March 4, 2010.  She had a sudden and violent reaction to her annual vaccines and died nearly instantly despite having our vet on hand to administer epinephrine to try to counteract the reaction.

I thought this was just a freak accident, a one in a million type of thing and somehow Little Bits physiology had contributed to her death or maybe it was the rabies shot which she received for the very first time. 

Our vet called the vaccine manufacturer and they assured her it was an isolated incident that happens very rarely but occasionally does happen.  Whether they new it on that day or determined at a later date, they failed to acknowledge that one of the vaccines that I trusted to keep her healthy and safe could have been defective and actually caused her death.

Well, now they have at least admitted the possibility and are recalling all West Nile Vaccines produced by their company for this season.  I don't know yet what the defect in the vaccine is that caused her severe reaction and death.  They only say that they are recalling the vaccines due to "an increased incidence of adverse events related to the currently marketed serials".  We are still waiting on the report from the USDA which should tell us how many horses have been killed by this defective vaccine.

A representative that a friend of mine spoke to was asked how this could potentially effect the horses vaccinated in the long run, even if they did not have a reaction this time.  Could it cause them to be more sensitive to vaccines in the future and predispose them to an anaphylactic reaction in the future.  There is no way to know.  They are dealing with the current events at this time.

I am angry, not just for the loss of my beloved Little Bit but because they put every one of my horses at risk by not doing their job and producing a safe product.  They also put in jeopardy all of our rescue horses that we have fought so hard to save and protect.  Vaccinating is the right thing to do, don't get me wrong, but I will never use the products made by this company again...they cannot even say for sure if the problem is limited to the West Nile vaccine.  It could involve every product they produce.

Our vet has looked into a new vaccine manufactured by Berringer that is a killed virus and supposedly ultra filtered for safety.