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Comment by _cs2017_ | Hacker News Reader

_cs2017_

Because it's not enough, you still need to do post-exposure shots (or else you still have a not exactly known but reasonably high risk of death). The main benefit of pre-exposure vaccination is that if somehow you have no access to the vaccine the day of exposure, you might still have a (small?) chance of survival. This benefit is nearly zero if you live within a driving distance from a hospital.

So why go through the trouble and pay $1-2k (plus more for boosters every 2-3 years) if you still need to go to the hospital after you get bitten?

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> (or else you still have a not exactly known but reasonably high risk of death)

Survival in dogs with post-vaccine high-titer challenge is very, very high 5 years after vaccination-- >80%.

> The main benefit of pre-exposure vaccination is that if somehow you have no access to the vaccine the day of exposure, you might still have a (small?) chance of survival.

"Small" chance of survival seems pessimistic as a way to describe this.

The main advantage of vaccination is that if you have an undetected bite or exposure, you are still probably okay. This is something that someone who routinely handles bats or other wildlife that may carry rabies might want.

A secondary advantage is you need half as many post-exposure treatments after a known bite, which are both expensive and painful (immunoglobulin injections all around are not so fun).

Also, "day of" seems like hyperbole: it is routine to wait 10 days for test results of probably-healthy animals before starting post-exposure treatment.

I think the (not explicitly stated) question is “why would a pervasively given rabies vaccine for humans cost $1-2k per dose?”

I suspect it wouldn’t cost anywhere near that, as it doesn’t cost anywhere near that in India.

>I suspect it wouldn’t cost anywhere near that, as it doesn’t cost anywhere near that in India.

It absolutely can cost that much in America. I see you're not familiar with just how expensive medical treatments in America are.

> I suspect it wouldn’t cost anywhere near that, as it doesn’t cost anywhere near that in India.

I have bad news.

It would cost $1k-$2k per dose because in the US you can just make up a price, and profit is God.

In public healthcare, it will cost you $3 per dose in India.

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