A government-owned Indian vaccine maker has challenged a December 22 Australian health advisory warning of “counterfeit batches” of an anti-rabies vaccine circulating in India since November 2023, and has asked authorities to review the notice. Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) said it had itself flagged a counterfeiting incident involving a single batch of its anti-rabies vaccine Abhayrab in January, and said the Australian advisory could create “anxiety and mistrust” among the public and healthcare professionals. “Counterfeit (fake) batches of rabies vaccine Abhayrab have been circulating in India since November 1, 2023,” the advisory for travellers and healthcare providers said. Peer-reviewed medical studies have documented that thousands of people have received counterfeit rabies vaccines worldwide, including more than 1,600 recipients in China in a single province in 2010. Chinese regulators also reported over 1,13,000 falsified rabies vaccine doses in 2018.

Source: The Telegraph December 28, 2025 06:34 UTC