World Rabies Day, started in 2007, aims to raise awareness about the public health impact of human and animal rabies. This year’s World Rabies Day theme is: “Rabies: Facts, not Fear.” The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised many doubts and misconceptions about diseases, their spread, and vaccination in general. Because of this, there has been some hesitancy about the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines in many countries and many people are afraid to get vaccinated. For rabies, this is nothing new, as fears, misconceptions, and misinformation about the disease and its prevention date back hundreds of years. For that reason, this year’s theme is focused on sharing facts about rabies, and not spreading fear about the disease by relying on misinformation and myths.
Volunteer
This year for World Rabies Day, WSU’s Rabies Free Africa program is hosting a joint event in the greater Seattle area to give rabies vaccines to pets owned by people who are low-income. This will be in partnership with the WSU One Health Clinic, Doney Coe Pet Clinic, Seattle Humane, Regional Animal Services of King County, Seattle Animal Services, and Rainier Animal Fund.
WSU is looking for volunteers: veterinarians, veterinary techs, veterinary assistants, and anyone else! We will be hosting clinics at three sites: South Downtown Seattle, Kent, and Southcenter/White Center.
The clinic will be hosted on Saturday, September 25th from Noon – 3 pm. Anyone interested should email [email protected]. When you email, please let us know which site is your preference and your background.
Posted September 17, 2021