Florida recognizes three-year rabies protocols

TALLAHASSEE - 7/13/05 - Florida now requires its county governments to recognize a three-year rabies vaccine protocol. Though the counties in Florida currently dictate which protocol to follow, at least 13 out of the state's 67 counties allow the three-year protocol, and residents who move their animals from those counties to one-year protocol counties will not be required to have their animals vaccinated until the three-year vaccine expires, says Dr. Harvey Rubin, special consultant for veterinary affairs with the Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA).

"The controlling authority in Florida is the county, and they establish their own law. This new law means that if you move into a one-year county, then they must recognize the vaccination for the full three years, but the counties still have control over what they want," Rubin says.

Subsequently, veterinarians are permitted to recognize the duration of immunity for their patients' vaccines. The law was spearheaded by the Florida Animal Control Association and supported by the Florida Rabies Prevention and Control Committee and FVMA. The law will be implemented Jan. 1, 2006.