The date chosen has a special meaning. On this date, but back in 1895, Louis Pasteur, the French scientific who created the rabies vaccine, passed away. His discoveries in different fields of natural sciences and his contribution to public health allowed to save countless lives since then. 

The WRD is an opportunity to promote the fight against this disease, raise awareness about its prevention and celebrate the achievements made.

Never before in the course of history the word “vaccine” has reached the dimension it has today. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised many doubts, misconceptions and fake news about diseases, their dissemination, and vaccination in general. Therefore, the theme of the 2021 WRD is: "RABIES: FACTS, NOT FEAR ", highlighting the importance of raising awareness on the disease, vaccinating the animal population and educating people on the danger of rabies and how to prevent it. 

In the region of the Americas, the current pandemic and its derived public health restrictions did not prevent the countries from keeping their commitments regarding rabies surveillance and prevention actions, since they are considered priority and urgent activities.

The actions for the elimination of human rabies transmitted by dogs in the Americas started in 1983, when PAHO Regional Program for the Elimination of Rabies was first launched, under the coordination of the Pan American Center for Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health of the Pan American Health Organization (PANAFTOSA/VPH-PAHO/WHO).

Since then, the incidence of human rabies transmitted by dogs has been reduced around 98%, from 300 cases reported in 1983 to 6 cases so far in 2021. Almost all current human cases are mainly transmitted by wild animals, mostly hematophagous bats.

This advance is the result of mass dog vaccination campaigns at regional level, the awareness of society and the increased availability of pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis for 100% of the population exposed to the virus.

The results attained in the past 38 years allow us to state that we are very close to attaining the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies (variants 1 & 2) in the American continent. 

Fear is defeated with facts!