I just got a price on $680.00 per shot for my pre-rabies vaccine. Anybody had similar cost?

I paid just a little more than that for the complete series about eight years ago.

Keep in mind that most medical insurance plans will pay most, if not all, of the cost for vaccines.

Two years ago I ( insurance ) paid a little over 700.00 for three shots. Check with your county health dept. Ask the vet tech's and groomers in your area where they got there shots.

that looks to be in the ball park. my insurance will only cover post-rabies shots

If your a Veteran, you can get them free or at little cost at the VA. Tell your primary care Dr. that you "Handle wild animals, and you NEED the shots". Might have to argue a bit and/or see the Vet Rep/Patient's Advocate.
They will also do the "Titer" test, free.

Mine cost $270 per shot here. I could only find them at a local hospital travel immunization clinic. When I got my titer checked this year at the same hospital they told me the cost was $750 but I got a discount because I was self pay and another if I paid that same day. Got it down to $350. Still seemed like too much. It was still good so I'm good for another two years.

What is the point in these shots? Why put something into you
If you don't have to?

This should be interesting!

My .02 is that pre exposure series do not prevent the potential to contract the rabies virus.

What pre exposure and regular titer checks do for the individual, is provide you the best medical baseline
protection against exposure or accidental exposure.

Shots are no guarantee and if you read up on it though the medical community feels like
they are worth getting and maintaining.

They have no percentage of known effectiveness as all human beings have varying immunology.

If you often have hands on with animals trying to bite you to escape your grip, you may desire the shots
as a protective layer against not noticing a puncture by any mammmal.

To each his own, you still get the post exposure series if you do have an actual known incident where you are
exposed.

When I worked for the govt they were mandatory if you worked with rabies vector species.

Read the link below for more:

https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Refere...erinarians.aspx

Mine cost the insurance company .. 900.00 ...protocol still remains the same, If i have gotten bitten or even THINK I have been bitten,...I need to go for a booster shot....which I have done a few times...this also keeps the titer level up too par.

I'm hearing "bitten" a lot. How bout saliva in the face? I think that's a lot more common and non as easy to notice.

"huntin" - CDC does allow for the potential of saliva to hit directly in eyes, mouth, nose from an animal, say a spitting hissing raccoon or feral cat.

No one wants to be the one who is the case study where it happened of course, but we all know we probably can't name someone who uses goggles
or a face shield when dealing with live traps or foothold traps or a cornered animal.

All diseases the mouth, nose and eyes are good ways to get something, whether itching your eye after you just handled a carcass (not rabies specific example
just general viruses, bacteria, parasites) or other types of handling.

A colleague years ago received post exposure shots after having a cat in a live trap spit hard enough that he knew he had saliva hit his eyes and face.

Most doctors don't want to debate potential possibilities and they aren't taught much about rabies other than simply it is fatal and can come from wildlife or domestic animal exposure. Risk of losing a patient, risk of liability if telling someone, "no, you are fine, go home!" is a serious one to any medical professional.

Out here we get some cases of plague every year and I know several first hand stories where someone was about to be released from the hospital or were released only to find they had plague. Some are lucky others are not. The phrase "look for horses not zebras" often lands people in trouble when it comes to zoonotic risks.

Ultimately when so many wildlife control outfits are sole operators for a long time there aren't other employees so we use our own judgement on what we think is a concern to us and our personal health (for better or worse).

Once companies have employees that really puts the onus on the owner to assure the employees are getting the best personal protective equipment training and so forth as is logical for the situation.

There is always a gray area in risks and often common sense is going to apply (if we use it). If we think of how many folks likely get spat on or misted by a hissing animal in a live trap or cornered in an attic each year and the low low level of human mortality from rabies in this country, it is likely not a great risk, that said, it is covered by CDC as a potential risk and therefore each should consider their own response to that knowledge. A simple face shield would really protect the eyes, nose and mouth, whereas just eye protection like safety glasses or goggles leaves those other two openings for infiltration.

Anyway, .02...

Best,

Justin

Having been on the receiving end of a saliva hit from a coon when a Warden and I were taking it off a roof It was a no brainer...it was an "exposure" and the State paid to have it tested. Negative but Its in the back of my mind. Checking to see about vaccine.