Apparently the vaccinations (not sure which one's particularly?) DO last for more than 1yr but vets just advice getting it yearly to get people in the door more often for their annual checkups. I find that sad, that if that is the truth, these dogs are getting injections for something they are already immunised against for the next few years, instead they could be getting far less injections..... and dog owners would save $$$.

Someone told me the vaccinations only cost them like $2 and yet they charge us what $60 or so???? (can't' remember exactly but its expensive). It's wrong IMO.
The tri-annual vaccines that are available are the only ones that have been studied and proven to be effective for at least three years. The annual vaccine has only been studied and proven to be effective for at least a year. In both cases the vaccines may actually last significantly longer than that but the drug companies can't make that claim because it hasn't been studied and proven. It also depends on the individual immune system as to how long it "remembers" how to fight each particular disease. It's similar to some human vaccines (like tetanus and chickenpox) where at some point the immune system "forgets" and you lose immunity.

In regards to the cost, no vet should ever vaccinate a pet without a health check first, and that is probably the majority of the fee you are paying. I know it seems like Vets make a lot of money because their fees seem so expensive, but healthcare in general is expensive and we are just lucky that for us humans we have medicare to take care of some of the costs. Vets actually make less money on average than a first year people nurse. Two of my bosses (of which there are three) that own the clinic have second jobs just to make ends meet. You don't even want to know what the pay rate for a nurse is, lol. I was a Senior Surgical Vet Nurse and I made less an hour than I could have at Coles.