FYI, apropos of other discussions on here—it’s hella expensive and not covered by insurance and thus not an option for the vast majority of people, but you can get a rabies vax over the counter at most travel docs.
Replies
Just realized I've only ever seen that word in the phrase "apropos of nothing" and I had to work my brain real hard to figure out what it actually means
sep 3, 2025, 11:50 am • 1 0 • view
Walgreens has the pre bite shots for relatively cheap, I think I paid 15-25$ per shot for mine. Especially if you're in areas that has rabies as a problem or work with stray animals
sep 3, 2025, 12:30 am • 7 1 • view
I remain glad that I lasted long enough in the one job I ever washed out of for them to pay for a prophylactic rabies vaccine series before deciding I wasn’t cut out to be a diagnostic lab tech. (They were right, too.)
sep 3, 2025, 12:19 am • 9 0 • view
And yet, you can get a dog vaccinated for, like, $40🤨 Is the human vaccine rally that much more expensive to produce or is it all price gouging?
sep 3, 2025, 12:07 am • 6 0 • view
I don’t think it’s cheap, alas, and far less commonly used.
sep 3, 2025, 2:10 am • 7 0 • view
I think that at least part of it is higher cost to make--it's a human diploid cell vaccine.
sep 3, 2025, 12:14 am • 3 0 • view
Sometimes you can get your employer or insurance to cover the cost of your rabies vax series if you work in a related field like zoology, vet tech, animal control, research — I am sure there is more. Just in case that helps anyone.
sep 2, 2025, 11:47 pm • 25 1 • view
The logic: Rabies is nearly 100% lethal in mammals once contracted (and IF you survive you will not be unchanged) — so you have a very good-faith argument for getting a pre-exposure vaccine covered if you realistically might have a workplace exposure in the future.
sep 3, 2025, 12:05 am • 15 1 • view
Sorry vetmed*
sep 2, 2025, 11:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Yep. RVT here. Got vaxxed 35 years ago and still have 6x antibody titer deemed protective. Get my titer rechecked every couple of years to be sure I don't need a booster.
sep 4, 2025, 2:03 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah isn’t it like a grand or something across all its doses?
sep 2, 2025, 11:42 pm • 5 1 • view
That’s what it was eight years ago, anyway.
sep 2, 2025, 11:43 pm • 6 1 • view
I know a guy who got exposed by a cow. His shots were covered by his govt employee health ins. Guy doing the work with him didn't have ins. $20k PER SHOT is what they told us. Prob 2015/16.
sep 3, 2025, 10:50 am • 5 0 • view
Oooooof
sep 3, 2025, 8:31 pm • 3 1 • view
In 2020, our bill came to roughly $30,000 PER PERSON fluctuating by weight (3 of us needed the first round of 5 shots). We are so beyond lucky that our insurance covered it. It’s absolutely absurd.
sep 3, 2025, 11:51 pm • 6 1 • view
OMG.
sep 3, 2025, 11:54 pm • 1 0 • view
Jesus Murphy.
sep 3, 2025, 11:53 pm • 2 1 • view
That's dreadful!
sep 4, 2025, 12:05 am • 1 0 • view
Pre-insurance price for mine a decade-plus ago was two grand, though I think that may have also included the immunoglobulin, and my piece of it was mercifully much less than that
sep 3, 2025, 2:30 am • 1 0 • view
The last time I checked earlier this year it was $1800 for the full course of shots if you were paying out of pocket.
sep 3, 2025, 1:33 am • 1 0 • view
Ballpark.
sep 3, 2025, 12:13 am • 2 0 • view
This is a deeply USian conversation, or, at least, a deeply USian conversation about this specific topic. Important, obviously, but sorry for all your troubles. Wild that public health involving RABIES would be "expensive" and/or "not covered by insurance" under any circumstances.
sep 3, 2025, 6:40 am • 5 0 • view
Yes, the US healthcare system is deeply broken. Unfortunately, the Republican Party and many lobbies are committed to keeping it that way. It doesn’t matter if we all suffer as long as a few rich ghouls get to make more money.
sep 4, 2025, 4:15 am • 0 0 • view
Most ERs have rabies vaccine, if you get bit by a possibly rabid animal, and you're not just getting a vaccination. I am currently getting the four rabies post-cat-bite shots along with the immunoglobulin, tetanus shots, and antibiotics. You don't want rabies.
sep 2, 2025, 11:57 pm • 31 2 • view
That’s not the same as the vaccine, that’s for post exposure prophylaxis. You get the vaccine prior to exposure. I got it a couple of years ago, it was a couple of hundred I think.
sep 4, 2025, 12:46 am • 2 0 • view
Exceptionally good podcast about rabies here - & why wasn't "tossing yummy treats out of airplanes to convince 🦝 to munch on oral rabies vax instead of garbage can pizza" included in any high school career days? www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/inc...
sep 3, 2025, 12:42 am • 9 2 • view
It may become necessary soon, given pet vax deniers …
sep 3, 2025, 12:42 am • 3 0 • view
A few years ago I worked out that it was about the same price to get it over the counter in the US as it was to fly to Cape Town and get it over the counter here, as a heavier person, if you were getting RIg. Dystopian level mark ups.
sep 2, 2025, 11:56 pm • 11 0 • view
That is insane! I just looked up the price in my country and if you had to pay for it yourself one dose would cost 85,15€ (only the vaccine vial itself)... I am so enraged when I read of you people having to pay for your medication yourself and the prices being so unbelievably high as well!
sep 3, 2025, 4:32 pm • 4 0 • view
Here, via private care, the prophylaxis + appointment is around 70€, and each RIg vial is about the same. Via national care it would be free (or minimal, like 8€) but there is a shortage making it difficult to trust in an emergency.
sep 4, 2025, 5:12 am • 0 0 • view
As someone who has had to get the rabies vaccine, it was only available at the hospital because it needed special refrigeration. It also cost us roughly $30,000 per person but fluctuates based on your weight. I don’t know what over the counter travel doc you are referring to, I’d love the info.
sep 3, 2025, 11:39 pm • 3 0 • view
That's rabies immunoglobulin, not the vaccine. Rabies IG is the post-exposure treatment to stop the virus before it has reached your nervous system (that's all she wrote at that point). Insanely costly. The pre-exposure vaccination is two shots in the arm a couple weeks apart. Not expensive.
sep 4, 2025, 1:56 am • 2 0 • view
My partner used to work at a vet diagnostic lab and got it through his employer, and from what I recall from him, you still need to get a booster if you get a potential rabies bite, right?
sep 2, 2025, 11:52 pm • 14 2 • view
Yes. I believe two shots if you are already vaccinated instead of four, though.
sep 2, 2025, 11:58 pm • 1 0 • view
Yep.
sep 3, 2025, 2:11 am • 9 0 • view
Yes, but if within a certain time frame of completing the original series (I don’t remember for certain, but I want to say two years), it’s a shorter shot series for the new exposure
sep 3, 2025, 2:27 am • 1 0 • view
Yes. You still need to seek medical care if you’re exposed. IIRC it’s a booster and some immunoglobulin. (I got vaccinated when I was employed working with wildlife.)
sep 2, 2025, 11:59 pm • 5 1 • view
If you have been previously vaccinated, you just get 2 shots in the arm and go your merry way. You must never get rabies immunoglobulin if you have been vaccinated, though.
sep 4, 2025, 1:59 am • 1 0 • view
I was really hoping to find someone who could do it when I had to have the shots after a bat run in but my state apparently only allows one (very poorly run to the point of being dangerous) Urgent Care administer the vaccine
sep 3, 2025, 5:10 am • 1 0 • view
And (as you know, Bob) one of those things that it is truly worth scraping or borrowing money from friends/family or putting it on that emergency credit card that you never use to get if there's ANY risk.
sep 2, 2025, 11:41 pm • 12 0 • view
If there's a possibility you've been exposed, insurance will usually cover it. (they don't want to get sued if they refuse and you get it)
sep 2, 2025, 11:58 pm • 8 0 • view
Yeah, the lawsuit potential for refusing rabies prophylaxis to someone bitten by a potentially rabid animal is not something they’d want to mess with. Of course, that requires having insurance. Not everyone does.
sep 3, 2025, 10:28 pm • 3 0 • view
It's on the list of available vaccines at CVS, but I haven't actually tried to get it.
sep 2, 2025, 11:36 pm • 6 0 • view