Australia Flags Counterfeit Rabies Vaccine In India; Manufacturer Responds
The advisory applies to people vaccinated in India from Nov. 1, 2023, who received Abhayrab or a rabies vaccine of unknown brand.
Australia has issued an advisory warning travellers about counterfeit batches of the rabies vaccine Abhayrab circulating in India since November 2023.
The alert, issued by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, says people who received the fake vaccine may not be fully protected against rabies.
“People who have received the counterfeit vaccine may not be fully protected against rabies and are recommended to receive replacement doses with a rabies vaccine registered in Australia,” ATAGI said, adding that rabies disease after exposure remains rare among travellers despite being fatal.
The advisory applies to people vaccinated in India from Nov. 1, 2023, who received Abhayrab or a rabies vaccine of unknown brand. ATAGI advised such individuals to consult healthcare providers and consider replacement doses using rabies vaccines registered in Australia.
The advisory clarified that people who completed their full rabies vaccination course in countries other than India, including Australia, or who have documented proof of receiving a different rabies vaccine brand, are not affected.
For those who received Abhayrab or an unknown rabies vaccine brand in India during the specified period, the advisory recommended replacing the doses with a rabies vaccine registered in Australia, such as Rabipur or Verorab.
Indian Immunologicals Ltd, the maker of Abhayrab, said that the advisory was "over-cautionary and misplaced", and claimed that the issue involved only one counterfeit batch. "In January 2025, IIL identified a packaging anomaly in one specific batch," the company said, adding that the batch has since been removed from circulation.
IIL also said that all genuine vaccines are tested and cleared by the Central Drugs Laboratory before release.
The manufacturer added that Abhayrab has been produced since 2000, with more than 210 million doses supplied across India and 40 countries, and that it continues to hold about a 40% market share in India.
According to the World Health Organization, rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic viral disease that affects the central nervous system. In up to 99% of human rabies cases, dogs are responsible for virus transmission through bites and scratches, and children aged five to 14 years are the most frequent victims.
WHO estimates that rabies causes about 59,000 deaths each year across more than 150 countries. India accounts for around 20,000 of these deaths annually, according to a study published in One Health in December 2024.
