Puppy vaccination:
There are several routines for making sure that your new puppy is as protected against the killer diseases as possible. Puppyhood is an especially risky time, because at this time the maternal protection wears off and the puppy has no defences until the vaccination course is completed.
One of the problems is that the maternal antibodies wear off at different ages in different puppies, and there is no easy way of knowing when it has happened. Added to this is the problem that the maternal antibodies prevent the vaccine from taking.
Finally, there is the problem that no vaccine is 100% effective, and that the puppy must be fully healthy in order to benefit maximally from the vaccine, and this is at a time when worms and other parasites, against which the pup had little in the way of defences, are most problematic.
We do know that all maternal antibody has worn off by 16 weeks of age. In about 90% of puppies it wears off at 10 weeks, and by 12 weeks, in 95%. This means, that even then, one puppy in 20 will not be protected.
Many vaccines, including the one I regard as the best and the one we use, claim that their vaccine can cut through maternal antibodies from 10 weeks of age. This was a move largely driven by the urge to get puppies out and about earlier to facilitate their socialisation (this is much more difficult after 16 weeks of age).
The WSAVA (World Small Animal Veterinary Association) is aware of all the above, and more. Their recommendation (2011), which we follow even though it parts company with the Manufacturer's Data Sheet quite quickly, is as follows:
Regular vaccination (against the 4 core diseases Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, and Leptospirosis) is administered at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age, followed by a booster at 15 months of age. This is how I vaccinated my own dog, Ella.
The advice about avoiding infection until the course of vaccines is complete was mistakenly interpreted as 'don't take your puppy out of doors unless you carry him' which was appropriate when these diseases were prevalent but is unnecessarily prescriptive in London, in 2011. Once your new puppy has had a day or two to settle in she should get used to a collar and lead straight away, and be taken everywhere you go, while not allowing her to sniff at lampposts or public grassed areas.
Distemper is a virus a bit like measles, and like measles it requires a critical percentage of the population to be vaccinated to prevent epidemics. If enough of the dog population is not vaccinated, and this has risen as a result of the well-meaning but misguided anti-vaccination lobby, we are at risk of an epidemic, and unvaccinated or improperly vaccinated dogs will have no protection and will perish. I regard it therefore as negligent not to vaccinate a puppy, and not ensure that the puppy has the full course.