Rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin The US Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Abstract

the temporary unavailability of rabies pre-exposure vaccination, and Sanofi-Pasteur notified health professionals that their rabies vaccine, Imovax®, would be available for post-exposure use only. Novartis, the other vaccine manufacturer has limited supplies of their vaccine Rabavert®, and has also limited its use similarly, at least until supplies were to be replenished by July 2008. Current supplies of vaccine and RIG (rabies immunoglobulin) appear to be adequate for post-exposure treatment. Careful wound care remains paramount for any true rabies exposure. No shortages have been reported from major Asian centers, but a severe shortage of both modern vaccine and immunoglobulin persists in rural areas lacking modern facilities [1]. Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine The current inactivated Je-Vax (Biken-SanofiPasteur) is in short supply in the USA, and available stock is expected to be depleted by July 2008, according to an alert from Shoreland (www.travax.com) to their subscribers. Hopefully, a new vaccine will be available for adults only by 2010 or 2011. The new preparation, Intercell/Novartis IC51 (trade name Iaxaro) will replace the older Biken vaccine. It is a killed vero cell-culture vaccine, and will be given in a two-dose primary series on days 0 and 28. In Australia, JE vaccine is currently not availabl