Should I Get Rabies Vaccines? Rethinking Rabies Vaccine Awareness Among Beijing's High Schoolers

Abstract

The author conducted a questionnaire survey among students in grades 9-12 in Beijing in March 2024 to understand their knowledge about rabies and rabies vaccines. Analyzing 421 valid questionnaires, this research made some important findings. First, about 60% of students have the experience of raising cats or dogs. Second, 25.7%, 11.4%, and 8.6% of the students or their family members were scratched or bitten by their own, neighbors' and unknown sources of cats or dogs, respectively. Third, while about 65% of victims choose to go to a hospital, one in six victims of scratches and bites from dogs or cats of unknown origin do not seek medical attention. Fourth, of 72 cases of scratches and bites from their own pets who had been regularly vaccinated, 46 chose to seek medical attention, and 38 (82.6%) of these cases were recommended to get vaccines and finally followed the doctor's advice. These results suggest that for rabies and rabies vaccines, not only do many students have the Type 1 Lack of Awareness (T1_LA), that is, they think they should not be vaccinated when they should be vaccinated, but also many students have the Type 2 Lack of Awareness (T2_LA), that is, they think they should be vaccinated when they should not be vaccinated. Hence, to effectively prevent rabies and the abuse of rabies vaccines, the whole society should not only strengthen the dissemination of relevant knowledge but also improve relevant public health policies.