Vets Concerned About Rabies Outbreaks Amid Vaccine Shortages

Veterinarians Express Concern Over Rabies Outbreaks Due to Vaccine Shortages

February 4, 2024 TruthUSA

Veterinarians are facing challenges in ensuring that pets are vaccinated against rabies as the world grapples with a surge in rabies outbreaks.

In the United States and several other countries, veterinarians are dealing with difficulties in obtaining rabies vaccines for animals. This issue has arisen at an inopportune time, with a recent study reporting a sharp increase in global rabies cases following the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2023.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that rabies causes 59,000 human fatalities in more than 150 nations every year. Rabies is a deadly disease once symptoms appear, most often transmitted to humans by the bite, scratch, or lick of an infected animal.

Post-exposure rabies vaccines for humans are crucial, as around 60,000 Americans experience bites or scratches from animals suspected of carrying rabies each year.

Dogs are responsible for 99 percent of transmission cases to humans. The reduction in rabies infection rates has always relied on extensive vaccination of domestic animals. Therefore, animal welfare supporters have been conducting extensive information and vaccination campaigns for decades.

However, there is now a scarcity of animal vaccines.

“The inability to provide timely rabies vaccines has disrupted our standard service pattern and overall pet healthcare,” noted Michael Thompson to The Epoch Times.

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Dr. Thompson, who runs a veterinary clinic in Austin, Texas, explained how the shortage of rabies vaccines had a direct impact on his practice and his clients. He mentioned that they have had to prioritize vaccine allocation based on pet age, health status, and risk exposure, leading to appointments being rescheduled multiple times due to the lack of rabies vaccines.

This shortage is affecting animal welfare professionals across multiple states, including Dr. Mollie Newton in Ohio. She mentioned her practice has also experienced similar challenges due to the scarcity of vaccines.

The interruption in rabies vaccination can increase the risk of the disease being reintroduced into the domestic animal population, leading to a rise in reported human encounters with the disease, as research has shown.

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, emphasized the importance of vaccinating pets against rabies to prevent the acquisition of rabies from dogs and cats.

The majority of positive rabies cases in the U.S. are among wild animals, mainly skunks, raccoons, foxes, and bats, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).