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United Against Rabies warmly welcomes the decision of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, to implement its commitment to invest in human rabies vaccines.
The decision to invest in human rabies vaccines was included in Gavi’s Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) in 2018 and was due to be rolled out in 2021, but delayed due to the global pandemic.
United Against Rabies Forum members and experts advocated strongly for the resumption of the rabies vaccine roll out, as access to vaccines is a fundamental pillar of any successful rabies control strategy. The Gavi investment has the potential to catalyse much broader action on rabies control, including investment in mass dog vaccination, improved surveillance and community outreach.
Rabies remains a serious public health problem in around 150 countries, mainly in Asia and Africa. In many of those countries, access to rabies vaccinations which stop the deadly rabies virus from reaching the central nervous system after exposure (usually via dog bite), are often unavailable or unaffordable. As a result, this 100% preventable but deadly virus still kills one person every 9 minutes – almost half of them children.