World Rabies Day: Get Vaccinated

Don’t know what rabies is? Check out our fact sheet here! 

In order to help you best enjoy your own pets as well as stay safe from animals in your community, Beijing United Family Hospital (BJU) offers both pre- and post-exposure vaccinations. Read on to learn more!

Brand

Rabipur is an imported vaccine produced by GSK. It is approved by both the Chinese and US FDAs. It is extremely safe and widely used internationally. Rabipur is a very effective vaccine that can be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis as well as prevention of rabies after being bitten by animals.

Administration

For pre-exposure prophylaxis, a total of three doses are delivered by intramuscular injection on days 0, 7, and 21 (or 28). A booster dose is generally not needed unless you work closely with animals. If you are bitten or scratched by a potentially unvaccinated animal, you still need medical attention. This is very important. The wound needs to be thoroughly cleaned out and disinfected and two further doses of the vaccine are needed. These extra vaccine doses cause a rapid immune response to occur and result in the body rapidly dealing with any rabies virus that has been deposited in the wound. In this situation, you do not need rabies immunoglobulin (RIG).

There are two reasons for this. First, the post-exposure treatment is difficult to obtain, costly, and painful. Second, some people, especially children, may not recognize or report minor exposure to rabies. Post-exposure treatment requires not only repeated doses of the vaccine but also infiltration around the wound with RIG. This is not reliably available in China and is very, very expensive. People who have had the pre-exposure vaccine do not require RIG, only two doses of the rabies vaccine.

Safety measures

Beijing United Family Hospital is a licensed rabies clinic authorized by the Beijing Health Bureau. We have professional products and equipment. Vaccines are strictly stored in medical refrigerators with 24h supervised temperature control. The doctors and nurses in our rabies clinic are well-trained and can offer professional and patient-centered care to our community.

If you want to get vaccinated, make an appointment with your Family Medicine physician. The vaccination fee (excluding your physician fee) is RMB 198 per shot. To schedule your initial consultation, please call the BJU Service Center at 4008-919191.