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The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will order human rabies vaccine for physicians instead of requiring physicians to place all orders directly with the vaccine manufacturer, as previously announced.
DSHS announced the direct-order process earlier after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prohibited DSHS or any other public or private entity from stocking the vaccine to stretch a limited supply of the vaccine nationwide.
DSHS changed the procedure after some physicians expressed concern about incurring excessive financial obligations in the direct-order process. DSHS will assume responsibility for recouping or covering the cost of the vaccine in orders it places for physicians.
Physicians may order directly from the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, if they choose. Ordering should be done after the physician has consulted with local or state public health officials to assess whether the vaccine is warranted in each specific situation.
Ordering procedures, documents, and other information are available on the DSHS Web site.
Physicians also may contact their nearest DSHS Regional Zoonosis Control Program office for guidance. Contact information is included in the online documents.
Traditionally, DSHS has stocked the vaccine in dispensing sites around the state. Patients who have been instructed by physicians to receive the vaccine often were directed to those sites to obtain the vaccine doses, which were then administered by – or under the supervision of – their physicians.
Action, July 16, 2008
Last Published: 7/16/2008 Print this page
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