Community-based veterinary designated vaccinator programming allows for the delivery and administration of vaccines to cats and dogs (including rabies vaccines) in regions that have limited to no access to veterinary services by a veterinary technologist and/or a member of the public (“lay person”) who has completed designated vaccinator training and is supervised by a Manitoba veterinarian.
Many regions of Manitoba are without regular veterinary care, which puts both animal and human health at risk. This includes an increased risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, and often negatively impacts historically excluded communities and Indigenous populations at a higher proportion than urban centers. Because of its significant disease consequence, the primary goal of community-based veterinary designated vaccinator programming is to reduce the risk of Rabies in domestic dogs and cats in Indigenous and other remote communities that have limited to no access to veterinary services, thus improving domestic animal health and public health outcomes.
The Manitoba Community Vaccinator Program provides an opportunity to:
- prevent diseases that threaten animal health and human health, and improve health outcomes;
- promote animal health, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine;
- protect the human-animal bond;
- strengthen a community’s ability to self-govern, and their capacity for self-determination;
- expand veterinary medicine into historically excluded communities;
- enable knowledge sharing on topics such as animal diseases, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit culture, and reconciliation;
- act as a proactive and preventative tool in a rapidly changing environmental climate.
Any First Nation community in Manitoba, or any community north of the 53rd parallel is eligible to participate in this program.
- Sign up as an interested community
Sign Up Here
Any community that chooses to enroll in the Manitoba Community Vaccinator Program assumes the responsibility for the direct cost of the vaccines and any costs related to shipping, storage, and equipment needed for vaccine administration as well as any potential salary or wages provided to designated vaccinators. This should be established at the time of first contact with the Sponsoring Veterinarian. The community will also decide if community members who access DV services pay for the vaccines directly for their own animals, or if the cost of the vaccine is covered by the community (Band & Council, Chief & Council, community, etc.) for all community dogs and cats. These community costs help to maintain this as community driven programming with little outside oversight, sustain the program long term, and promote responsible animal ownership. Grants and other funding opportunities may also be available to the community.
