If anyone has a right to be nervous about rabies vaccines, it’s me — after losing our original canine heroine, Lilly, to an adverse rabies vaccine reaction. Even then, though, I did not become an anti-vax drama queen. So, the hysteria and misinformation running rampant online about the new RNA rabies vaccine for dogs is insane. It’s meant to scare you. It’s total BS on several fronts.
Obviously, I am not going to link to the wanna-be influencers spreading garbage pet health information, but I know some of you have seen it because some of you have contacted me privately to ask WTF. I appreciate your trust.
False Claim 1 – RNA rabies vaccine for dogs was secretly approved.
A lot of governmental processes are indeed opaque and a challenge for the average person to track down, but there’s nothing “secret” about it. If you ever want to look up what’s happening with pet vaccines, go here.
UDSA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Center for Veterinary Biologics
On that website, there’s a section for Licensed Veterinary Biological Product Information, and you can download information on all the biologics, including pet vaccines, currently approved. Then there, you can find the ones you’re interested and download information about how and when they were tested.
False Claim 2 – RNA rabies vaccine is new as of 2025 and wasn’t really tested for safety.
That too is total BS. From what I see in the official USDA reports, researchers started testing the RNA rabies vaccine for dogs in 2019. (Notice that was before the COVID pandemic ramped up.)
This is the hard part for us to accept, but they test these vaccines by deliberately exposing the vaccinated and unvaccinated test dogs to rabies to see if the vaccine protects them (or not). The dogs often get euthanized, especially the “control” dogs who were not vaccinated with the new vaccine — many of whom indeed developed rabies.
After one year…
0 of 27 vaccinated dogs developed rabies
9 of 11 unvaccinated dogs did
After three years …
0 of 27 vaccinated dogs developed rabies
11 of 13 unvaccinated dogs did
So researchers have been monitoring these dogs for several years. They did not rush any new RNA rabies vaccines to market suddenly in the last few months. FWIW, they tested it on cats too, with similar good results. The RNA option is also being used for canine flu and feline FeLV.
False Claim 3 – The RNA replicates itself and can give you rabies, if your dog licks you.
Honestly, the stupidity hurts. Rabies is 100% fatal. There is no live rabies virus in any of the rabies vaccines. Never has been. Never will be.
In adjacent news, the idea that one person once “survived” rabies and maybe others can too has been thoroughly rejected in a medical journal articled titled “Demise of the Milwaukee Protocol for Rabies.” It says, in part, “Over the past 2 decades, no subsequent detailed reports have documented evidence of efficacy. There have been at least 64 cases with failure of the protocol… The time has now come to abandon the failed Milwaukee protocol for the therapy of rabies and consider new approaches based our current knowledge of rabies pathogenesis.”
Other False Claims
I could keep going, but I’m tired, and I think you get the idea. When you see this kind of drama getting a lot of attention online, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s complete and utter baloney.
Sources of Accurate Information About RNA Vaccines for Pets
My pals and former colleagues at the American Animal Hospital Association published this article, meant for veterinary professionals, about how the RNA vaccines work and other details. Maybe useful to you.
Also, this French-based debunking site also picks apart all the false claims around the RNA vaccine for dogs.
Notice as well this new graphic
Written by Roxanne, a human, not AI
It seems like it’s now necessary with so much AI slop and machine generated, soulless content. As a lifelong writer, it seems my career may be in jeopardy. I like to believe that real writing from real people still matters. I guess time will tell.
