Protection and prevention: how our mass rabies vaccination campaigns work

The reservoir species for rabies varies globally, but in places where there are the highest number of human rabies deaths – this is dogs. In fact, 99% of all human rabies cases worldwide are the result of an infected dog bite. Human cases are especially high in Africa and Asia, which is where we predominately focus our efforts. All year round we vaccinate dogs in global rabies hotspots to eliminate the disease from dog population and protect the lives of people and animals.  

Our teams combine many approaches to achieve this, including mass vaccination drives, door to door visits and regular clinics. All with the same goal: providing accessible veterinary care to communities in the form of rabies vaccinations. We vaccinate all year round in our flagship projects and complete annual mass vaccination campaigns in our other project areas, so how do these campaign work? 

Planning: 

A vital part of these campaigns is the planning stage; a lot of work goes into this from our teams and partner organisations. This includes gathering data from previous campaigns, coordinating volunteer and staff support, and assigning vaccination areas to teams. We work alongside governments and local non-profit organisations to help with logistical and staff support, and ensure we have local expertise. Our teams work with them to organise these campaigns.  

Sensitisation:

The first step before we commence a vaccination drive is sensitisation to inform communities about our upcoming campaign. The way this is done depends on the country, with flyers, posters, announcement trucks and radio being used in our project areas just before the campaign commences. The media also play a vital part in this with articles being published with the upcoming dates and areas visited.  

This ensures that communities are aware and prepared for the arrival of our teams and are willing to get their pets vaccinated- helping to reduce vaccination barriers such as concerns about the risks or owners being unavailable to present a dog for vaccination. This proactive approach has played a vital role in encouraging community participation and enhancing overall public health outcomes.

Leading up to campaigns, our education teams visit schools to deliver rabies prevention lessons. This is an effective way to inform communities about upcoming campaigns as children often relay this information to their families and help take care of dogs. Crucially, the children taught will have learnt how to stay safe around dogs and know the life-saving steps to take if bitten.

The different approaches: 

What approach or combined approaches we use depends on the country, area and how long we have been working in that location.  

Door-to-door: 

Each vaccination team is equipped with a phone with the WVS Data Collection App. Areas are divided up into ‘zones’ on the app and teams work through these during a campaign. Each team navigates around their designated area on foot, going door-to-door asking community members if they have any dogs and to present them for vaccination. Teams set a ‘path tracker’ live on the app and can see which streets they have travelled down and where they still need to cover. Once a team has gone down every street and vaccinated all the dogs possible, the area is now complete, and they can move on to their next ‘zone’. 

Static point clinics: 

Vaccination clinics are strategically organised in different locations in our project areas for people to bring their dogs for vaccinations. Sensitisation is especially important for static point clinics, as teams will not be travelling to people’s houses, and owners need to know where and when these clinics will take place. Our teams travel to a specific location with all of the equipment they need to run a vaccination clinic. Once the teams have set up, owners bring their dogs forward for vaccination – it’s a great sight when we see long queues forming with owners keen to get their pets protected.  

Roaming: 

For this approach, teams have a van or tuk tuk with them all day and they ‘roam’ through their designated area. This is used to cover larger working regions with areas where houses are separated and it would be too far for teams to walk. Vaccination teams park up in populated areas and use a megaphone to announce the free rabies vaccinations available for dogs. Soon after, owners start to arrive with their pets and word spreads around the community. 

For many campaigns, the most effective and efficient way to get as many dogs vaccinated as possible is a combination of approaches. During our Tanzania campaign in September 2025 (in Arusha District), teams administered vaccinations using door-to-door, static point clinics, and roaming methods. 

The vaccination process: 

Our vaccination team members are often a combination of local staff/partners, veterinary students, volunteers (both local and from overseas) as well as WVS/Mission Rabies staff – everyone with a vital role in delivering this life-saving protection within communities. Vaccination teams receive all their equipment in the morning; phones, vaccines, cooler box, markers, and much more, before travelling to their designated area to start vaccinating. 

The first step is always to try to hand-catch dogs for vaccination, as this is nicest possible experience for our four-legged friends. We will either guide owners on how to safely hold their dogs, or a member of our team will hold the dog. Sometimes when hand-catching is not possible, our teams will use nets, which are perfectly safe for dogs and our staff are trained on how to use these. A few seconds in a net is worth it to be protected against this cruel and deadly disease! 

Then our teams administer the vaccine, and the process is quick and painless. Like us, they may just feel a little scratch at the site of vaccination. The vaccine we use is safe for dogs of all ages and can be given under the skin or directly into the muscle. Every dog is then marked with a brightly coloured animal-friendly paint, which washes off after a few days. 

This paint mark helps our teams to quickly identify a vaccinated dog as we work our way through an area and is especially helpful in locations with free-roaming dogs. Every vaccination is then recorded in the WVS App, including information about the dog. This provides us with valuable data that feeds into the management of vaccination campaigns in real time and supports with reporting the impact of intervention. 

Once a team has reported their working region or location as complete, post-vaccination surveyors are sent to estimate the vaccination coverage. We aim for a 70% vaccination coverage to achieve herd immunity and stop rabies in its track. If an area comes back as above 70% the area can then be marked as complete – until we return the next year to repeat the process.  

Help create a safer world for all  

Volunteer 

All year round local and international volunteers join us to ensure that we can run these life-saving campaigns. Register your interest to be the first to hear when applications open for our 2026 volunteering opportunities.