Health Canada gets rabies vaccine shipment as Ontario sees shortage, increased demand [Video]

Health Canada has received more units of the rabies vaccine and expects they will be distributed by the end of the month as Toronto continues to ration its doses amid a shortage.

An increase in demand for the vaccine following the death of an Ontario child that came in contact with a bat last fall has led to a strain on the supply in Ontario, officials say.

The two rabies vaccines approved in Canada, RabAvert and Imovax Rabies, have both experienced shortages in recent months. RabAvert said a rise in demand is to blame while Imovax has been dealing with packaging delays at its manufacturing facility in France.

Toronto Public Health said they’ve observed a “general increase in interest” for the vaccine since the child’s death in Brantford, Ont. last October – the first domestically acquired case in the province since 1967.

Afterwards, health experts encouraged anyone who had a …