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Insight42 t1_iug0df3 wrote

Reply to comment by chronicallylaconic in Is taking rabies vaccine 100% effective? as in the once infected person won't need a booster shot in the future? by DetectiveSherlocky

It's not.

I hate needles. I've passed out from vaccinations before, even if they're not painful - I even had to sit for a half hour after a flu shot once.

Rabies PEP consists of 4 visits. The first is 4 shots of vaccine in the arm and immunoglobulin injected as close to the wound as they can get. The 4 vaccine doses were almost entirely painless - the immunoglobulin is not. It's thick and you get a lot of it.

The other three visits - at day 3, day 7, and day 14, if memory serves - are each just one injection of a dose of vaccine, and aren't any more painful than a flu shot. Generally you're a bit wiped for the rest of the day, but nothing terrible and no soreness the next day.

Unfortunately, the only place they have this is the ER. That can mean a long wait and some nasty bills. Better than rabies though.

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xallanthia t1_iugj3uw wrote

Anyone else going through this—you can get doses 3, 7, and 14 through urgent care to save some on the bill. I just had to do the series myself.

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