Tag Archives: world rabies day

On September 28th, we celebrate the 102nd birthday of Louis Pasteur by honoring his pioneering work in developing a vaccine against rabies. The anniversary of his birth has been designated World Rabies Day in remembrance of Dr. Pasteur and the millions of lives he continues to save with the rabies vaccine.

Vaccine hesitancy is a relatively recent phenomenon. In 1955, when Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine became available, the public’s reaction differed greatly from the response to the COVID-19 vaccine release sixty-six years later. There was a good deal of vaccine hesitancy in 2021 that was not evident in 1955. Vaccine hesitancy is now spilling over into veterinary medicine.

September 28th is the annual celebration of World Rabies Day. Promoted by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, this day raises rabies awareness. In 2017, the theme “Rabies: Zero By

“Educate. Vaccinate. Eliminate.” is the theme for World Rabies Day 2016. American pet owners’ familiarity with rabies is limited to vaccinations administered in the veterinarian’s office and a number of

Rabies is an ancient and universally feared disease. The first known description of rabies occurred before 2300 BC in Egypt. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, wrote about rabies around 350 BC.