Dog Owners Hesitant to Vaccinate Pets Against Rabies After Covid

Vaccine skepticism has spread to our pets.

More than half of US dog owners expressed concerns about vaccinating their dogs, including against rabies, according to a new study published Saturday in the journal Vaccine. The study comes as anti-vaccine sentiments among humans have exploded in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Canine vaccine hesitancy is pervasive,” said Matt Motta, one of the paper’s authors and a political scientist at Boston University’s School of Public Health who studies hesitancy. “Honestly, we were pretty surprised.”

This is not the first indication that insurgent anti-vaccine attitudes have impacted our furry friends. A study published in the ...