What to do if a patient is overdue for their annual leptospirosis vaccine

Jane Sykes, BVSc, DACVIM (SAIM), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, addresses how to handle an overdue booster for leptospirosis. She explains that leptospirosis vaccines have at least a 15-month duration of immunity, but maintaining a manufacturer’s guarantee requires revaccination 3 to 4 weeks after an overdue vaccine. For puppies, she notes that if more than 6 weeks pass between doses, the vaccine series needs to be restarted.

Sykes also shares that when discussing vaccination with clients, clearly communicating the loss of protection and financial costs of a “re-do” helps incentivize owners to stay on schedule.

Below is a partial transcript, lightly edited for clarity.

Sykes: I do get a lot of questions about what to do for dogs that are overdue for their booster. That's maybe one of the most frequently asked questions: "What do I do for dogs that are on an annual schedule and then they're overdue for their annual vaccine?"

We know that the vaccines have at least 15 months duration of immunity, and for bacterins in humans, usually they would just give you one dose, even if you were years overdue for a vaccine. However, if you want a manufacturer's guarantee—because many vaccine companies do have guarantees on their vaccines for up to 15 months—you should recommend that the client come back for revaccination 3 to 4 weeks after that overdue vaccine. So, kind of have to start over again.

That's how I handle it—I tell an owner that one vaccine will boost your immunity sufficiently, however, if they want a manufacturer's guarantee, then they should come back 3 to 4 weeks later for a second vaccine. So that kind of makes it their decision.

And then for puppies that are overdue for vaccines, when they're ready for their 3- to 4-week booster, if they don't come in for that, then we have a problem. And you need to—if it's been like 6 weeks or more after the initial vaccine—you probably need to give another vaccine 3 to 4 weeks after that.

That's a client communication issue as well.

So, telling them at the initial vaccine that if they don't come back for a vaccine 3 to 4 weeks later, their dog won't be immunized. They will have wasted the money on the first vaccine, and they will have to restart if more than 6 weeks elapse, so it will cost them even more. So, they won't have an immune dog from the first vaccine, and they will have to have another vaccine and then a second one after that if they don't come back. It will cost them a lot of money in the long run, and that incentivizes owners to come back.