A seven-year-old girl from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has developed rabies symptoms despite receiving the anti-rabies vaccine after being bitten by a stray dog on April 8. After the bite, her family promptly cleaned the wound and took her to a health center for vaccination, followed by additional treatments at Punalur Taluk Hospital. Despite these efforts, she began experiencing severe pain and fever, and her condition worsened, leading to her current critical state at Sree Avittom Thirunal (SAT) Hospital, where she is on ventilator support.
The girl’s case raises concerns about the effectiveness of the rabies vaccine, as she had received all recommended doses. This follows the recent death of a six-year-old girl in Malappuram, also from rabies, despite vaccination. While the SAT Hospital confirmed her vaccination, officials cautioned that the location of the bite could have impacted the vaccine’s effectiveness. If the bite occurred near a vein, the virus could have reached the brain too quickly for the vaccine to be effective.
Health authorities have defended the vaccine’s quality, with Health Minister Veena George emphasizing that vaccines administered in state hospitals are rigorously tested and certified for quality by the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kasauli. Dr. Bindhu, the SAT Hospital Superintendent, also stated that it is difficult to assess vaccine effectiveness in cases where the virus reaches the brain directly.