Residents of several Russian regions reported a shortage of rabies vaccines

Residents of several Russian regions have reported a shortage of rabies vaccines. The portal “NeMoskva Speaks” drew attention to such reports in the media.

In particular, there is no rabies vaccine in some emergency rooms in St. Petersburg , the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported . As townspeople told the publication, doctors are sending them to emergency rooms in other areas. The shortage of the drug was anonymously confirmed by emergency room doctors.

The St. Petersburg Department of Health said that the vaccine is purchased as part of the preventive vaccination calendar for epidemic indications at the expense of district administrations. Officials added that patients can always go to nearby medical facilities if their supply runs out. According to the Department of Health, the situation with vaccine supply in the city as a whole cannot be called critical.

Private clinics in St. Petersburg have the vaccine, but one injection will cost about 2.5 thousand rubles. Rossiyskaya Gazeta noted that it is the anti-rabies drug that needs to be administered on time.

Krasnodar resident Evgeniy I. told “Caution News” that on the afternoon of November 24 he was bitten by a stray cat, after which he immediately went to the emergency room. There, the man could not be vaccinated against rabies due to the lack of the drug and was sent to another clinic. According to Evgeniy, he called most private clinics and pharmacies in the city, but nowhere they could help.

Today, November 25, the Ministry of Health of the Krasnodar Territory confirmed the shortage of rabies vaccines to the Bloknot publication. The department stated that the drug is not available due to its lack of availability from the manufacturer. According to the region’s Ministry of Health, in 2024, only 25% of the annual vaccine supply was delivered to the region. They promised to correct the situation by the end of the year.

Regional media wrote about the shortage of anti-rabies vaccines in the Amur region back in October. A resident of Blagoveshchensk was bitten by a stray dog ​​in August during a tourist trip from Dagestan to Ossetia, Amur.Life reported . The wound, according to the woman, was shallow, but the animal’s saliva got into the blood, so a rabies vaccination was needed.

A resident of Blagoveshchensk delivered the first vaccine in Vladikavkaz, the second in Makhachkala, and the third in Khabarovsk. The woman planned to get the fourth vaccination in Blagoveshchensk.

“When I arrived home, I went to our emergency room in Blagoveshchensk, and they told me that there was no vaccine. “There’s no one in the region at all,” they tell me,” the woman explained. After the refusal, she called a medical facility in Khabarovsk, where she had already received one of the injections, but they did not believe that there were no vaccines in the entire city. A resident of Blagoveshchensk ended up having to get the vaccine in a private clinic.