Safety comparison of four types of rabies vaccines in patients with WHO category II animal exposure

To evaluate the safeties of 4 types of rabies vaccines for patients with WHO category II animal exposure, especially in different age groups.A total of 4000 patients with WHO category II animal exposure were randomly divided into 4 vaccine groups, and were respectively given with Vaccines A, B, C, and D. And subjects in each vaccine group were divided into 4 age groups (≤5, 5-18, 19-60, and ≥60-year-old groups). Then adverse events (including local and systemic ones) were recorded and compared. Consequently, except for Vaccine B, patients under the age of 5 in Groups A, C, and D suffered from more adverse reactions than those in other age groups. Furthermore, for the children aged less than 5 years, incidence of adverse events following administration of Vaccine B, with the dose of 0.5 mL and production of bioreactor systems, was significantly lower than Vaccines A and D.Our data showed that rabies vaccines with smaller doses and more advanced processing techniques are of relatively high safety for the patients, especially for the young children.