Ask the Vet: Concerns over taxing rabies vaccines

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/26/concerns-over-taxing-rabies-vaccines/

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Ask the Vet: Concerns over taxing rabies vaccines

By Tracy Dewhirst

Posted May 26, 2010 at midnight

Tennesseans know that our state constitution requires a balance budget, no deficits, and for that we are thankful. In this recessionary time Gov. Phil Bredesen and legislators do have their work cut out for them as they race to balance the budget this summer.

A quiet and underpublicized Band-Aid to fund $1 million of the Tennessee State Health Department's budget is in a recently proposed bill sponsored by state Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, waiting to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee. The bill, SB3850, would place a fee, or tax, on every rabies vaccine given in Tennessee.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, the new rabies fee/tax will help raise revenue to support the salaries of the Environmental Health Services state environmentalists. This department oversees public health issues such as clean drinking water, sewage removal, food safety, and restaurant inspection. It also investigates animal bite incidences, and, according to the Health Department, the environmentalists from Nashville spend 20 percent of their time on rabies related issues, equivalent to one workday a week and $1.8 million.

Knoxville and other metropolitan areas of Tennessee do not receive funding from the state to cover rabies control costs, and in Knox County the Knox County Animal Control, Knox County Health Department Environmental Division, and the Knoxville Veterinary Medical Association are responsible for following up on bite incidents, raising public awareness, and administering vaccines.

While this tax/fee seems minimal in the minds of the legislatures, there are serious concerns about taxing a public health program, setting precedence to tax other medical procedures, and fining participants who abide by the state's vaccine mandate. Legislators who believe pet owners can easily afford the fee need to join me at a county rabies clinic and witness people paying with coins collected in a Mason jar and hear owners admit they can only afford to vaccinate two of their four pets. And shelters and rescue organizations will feel the financial strain more than anyone as their donation dollars have declined and their facilities are at maximum capacity.

The fee also seems unfair in light of the fact that the state does not fine owners of an unvaccinated animal involved in a bite investigation; people ignoring the law have no financial liability. Perhaps the state could recoup money from the very people keeping them busy.

No cure has been found for rabies in animals or humans, prevention is the only protection against this aggressive virus that attacks the nervous system leading to convulsions, paralysis and eventually death. Vaccinated animals create a protective barrier between rabies in wild animals and the human population; the entire community benefits from every vaccine administered.

Veterinarians and public health officials are concerned that the fee will place a hardship on low-income and multi-pet households thus reducing the number of animals vaccinated. Estimates show that only 20 percent of animals in Tennessee are vaccinated, and epidemiologists cannot predict what a drop in compliance would mean for public safety, but fewer vaccinated animals would ultimately affect overall protection.

Veterinarian Tracy Dewhirst is a freelance contributor for the News Sentinel.