Rabies Vaccine Injection: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Precautions and Alternates

Quick overview

Rabies Vaccine Injection (Rabies Vaccine, Human I.P.) is an active immunizing agent made from inactivated rabies virus. It is used both before possible exposure in high-risk individuals and after a bite or scratch from an animal that may have rabies. The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to produce protective antibodies against the rabies virus.

What is Rabies Vaccine Injection

This is a vaccine made from inactivated (killed) rabies virus. It helps your body build protection against rabies, a very serious infection of the brain and nerves that is almost always fatal once symptoms start.

Rabies Vaccine Injection uses

• Pre-exposure prevention for people at high risk of rabies, such as vets, animal handlers, lab workers, and travelers to areas where rabies is common
• Post-exposure treatment after contact with an animal that has or might have rabies, such as a bite or scratch

Benefits of Rabies Vaccine Injection

• Rabies Prevention: Helps prevent rabies after potential exposure to an infected animal
• Post-Exposure Protection: Forms an important part of treatment after bites, scratches, or other possible exposures
• Pre-Exposure Protection: Can provide protection for people with increased occupational or travel-related exposure risk
• Immune Response: Stimulates the body to develop protective antibodies against rabies virus
• Life-Saving Prevention: When administered appropriately after exposure, it can prevent rabies from developing

How Rabies Vaccine Injection works

The vaccine contains killed rabies virus. Immune cells take up this virus and carry it to lymph tissue, where they trigger your immune system to make antibodies that can neutralize the real rabies virus.

Rabies Vaccine Injection dosage

This vaccine is given as an injection into the muscle, usually in the upper arm (deltoid); in young children it is given into the outer thigh, never into the buttock. Some post-exposure regimens use small injections into the skin (intradermal) at two sites per visit; this must only be done by trained medical staff. The vaccine can be given at the same time as other vaccines, but at a different injection site.

If you are having post-exposure treatment and have not been vaccinated before, you will also usually need a separate injection called rabies immunoglobulin, given on the day of your first vaccine dose or shortly after. Tell your provider if you have had rabies vaccine before, as your schedule will be shorter.

If you have a high temperature or feel very unwell, routine (pre-exposure) vaccination should be postponed until you feel better, but this does not apply after a possible rabies exposure. Wounds from an animal bite or scratch should be washed thoroughly with soap and water as soon as possible, before or alongside vaccination.

Available forms and strengths

• Lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder for reconstitution, given as an intramuscular or intradermal injection

Side effects of Rabies Vaccine Injection

Common

• Pain, swelling, or redness where the injection was given
• Headache
• High temperature (fever)
• Feeling sick or vomiting
• Itchy raised rash (hives)
• Tiredness and general feeling of being unwell
• Dizziness
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Muscle aches and joint pain
• Decreased appetite

Serious

• Severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), including swelling of the face and throat, difficulty breathing, fast heartbeat, dizziness, or weakness
• Fainting after the injection
• Guillain-Barré syndrome (a condition causing weakness, tingling, or paralysis)
• Nerve or brain conditions such as encephalitis, transient paralysis, meningitis, or myelitis
• Erythema multiforme (a skin reaction with unusual lesions)

Warnings and precautions

• This vaccine does not protect everyone completely, so seek medical care right away if you think you've been exposed to rabies, even if you have already been vaccinated
• Never inject this vaccine into a vein, as this can cause severe reactions including shock
• People with a severe egg allergy or antibiotic allergy should tell their provider, since the vaccine may contain traces of egg protein or antibiotics
• Serious allergic reactions, nerve problems, and other rare but serious conditions have been reported as linked in time to this vaccine, though a direct cause has not always been proven
• Certain drugs, including chloroquine (used for malaria prevention), corticosteroids, and other medicines that weaken the immune system, can reduce how well the vaccine works
• Once rabies symptoms begin, the vaccine can no longer help prevent the disease
• There isn't enough research on this vaccine in pregnant women, but it can still be given if there's a real chance you've been exposed to rabies, because the risk of untreated rabies is far greater than any theoretical risk from the vaccine.
•  This vaccine has not been shown to cause harm to breastfed babies and can be given while breastfeeding if needed. 
• It isn't known whether this vaccine affects your ability to drive or use machines.

Storage

• Store at 2°C to 8°C
• Do not freeze
• Protect from light
• Use the reconstituted vaccine immediately, or it can be stored for up to 6 hours at 2-8°C
• Discard any unused vaccine after 6 hours
• Dispose of used vials and syringes according to local biomedical waste disposal rules

When to see a doctor

• Get emergency medical help right away if you notice signs of a severe allergic reaction after vaccination, such as hives, swelling of the face and throat, trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, dizziness, or weakness
• Seek medical help as soon as possible if you think you have been bitten or scratched by an animal that might have rabies, even if you have been vaccinated before
• Tell your provider right away if you feel dizzy, have vision changes, or hear ringing in your ears after the injection, as these can be early signs of fainting or a reaction

Alternatives

• Rabipur
• Imovax Rabies
• Human Rabies Immunoglobulin (HRIG)