The stocks of rabies vaccines are very, very low until next year, and the prices of vaccine has gone up by 37%, which means fewer clients chose to be vaccinated

Because of this we are going to offer our clients the option of intramuscular (the conventional way) or intradermal rabies vaccine.

The intradermal method  is 0.1 mls of vaccine given under the first layer of skin, the epidermis, which is a very effective  way of absorbing the drug and so needing a smaller amount of vaccine. It must be given by a highly trained healthcare professional, as the procedure is specialised.

This way of giving vaccines is also used when giving BCGs and some flu vaccines and is done in many parts of the globe where the cost of rabies vaccine is very high .

All courses of rabies vaccine whether intramuscular or intradermal are given on days 0, 7 and 28 (the last dose can be advanced towards day 21 if necessary, but the antibody level may wane more rapidly).

A booster dose one year or two years after the primary course enhances and prolongs the immune response, which lasts more than 10 years in 96% of people. 

No further boosters are needed for travellers who will have access to vaccine if exposed to rabies, but those going to remote areas, uncertain access to vaccine should have a repeat booster dose before departure if their last dose was more than 3 to 5 years previously

This way of giving vaccines enables us to protect more travellers for a lower price.