Canine parvovirus disproportionately affects dogs in low-income communities where vaccination access is limited. Community vaccination programs address a welfare equity gap with high impact per dollar spent.
Parvovirus welfare inequity creates a two-tier system where the disease is effectively eliminated in affluent communities through high vaccination coverage while continuing to cause preventable suffering and death in communities where financial barriers prevent vaccination. Dogs in low-income households are no less deserving of protection from this preventable, agonizing disease than those in wealthy households. Community vaccination programs that remove financial barriers have been shown to dramatically reduce parvovirus incidence in targeted communities. The welfare impact per dollar invested in community vaccination programs is among the highest of any companion animal welfare intervention.