"Hospitals Stick to Outdated Anti-Rabies Shots"

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March 4, 2002

 

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

 

"Hospitals Stick to Outdated Anti-Rabies Shots"

Times of India (www.timesofindia.com) (03/01/02); Sabnis, Vivek

 

In Pune, India, a campaign is under way to stop the production of an anti-rabies vaccine called Sempel vaccine that is manufactured at the Haffkine Institute.  Critics of the vaccine, which is made from a sheep's brain and is being used in all local hospitals, claim it causes serious side effects in humans.  These critics want the hospitals to use other vaccines that are known to be safe, such as the Purified Vero-Cell Vaccine (PVCRV) and the Purified Chick Embryo Cell Vaccine (PCECV), instead.  Until recently, civic and government hospitals have been unwilling to use PVCRV or PCECV because they were more expensive than the Sempel vaccine.

 

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