The Center for Disease Control mandates the extra vaccine upon exposure, and they are part of the government, so, therefore, they're part of the law, aren't they?
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Mandates? No, I don't think so. You should be careful about your language/word choice. A law or mandate is a very legal thing - a requirement.
I could be wrong, for sure, but I very much do not think the CDC
mandates that (I'm not even sure they have the authority to do so). At least in MN, rabies vaccination is definitely (I'm sure about that much, at least) not automatically done "if your skin is broken by an animal" as you said.
For starters, it's not automatically done if your skin is broken by a vaccinated animal, like a pet. But even beyond that, it's not even automatically done if a non-pet or non-vaccinated animal causes the injury; it's assessed on a case-by-case basis, and our state's Dept of Health makes themselves available to help decide about any particular case.
In any case, it is
not automatic and if it is indeed "mandated" by the CDC, then our entire state is violating that mandate, which I very much doubt.
There are a few questions to ask when a human is bitten by an animal. Just a couple that we use here in MN and I would bet many (most? all?) other states use:
1) Is it a species of concern? You get bitten by a mouse out here and guess what - no rabies vaccine. The reason? Mice don't (usually) survive an attack that would have spread the disease to them so therefore they are a very low risk vector for humans. Not every state has the same vectors of concern for human exposure.
2) Is the animal available for monitoring? If so, and the bite is to an extremity on the human, then no (automatic) rabies vaccine. The reason? You can just monitor for the animal for 10 days and if they don't show signs of the disease by then, they weren't transmitting (rabies, specifically) at the time of the bite. If the animal is available for monitoring and is an animal of concern AND the bite is to a location near the central nervous system? Then
the state might
recommend it, on the other hand, rather than wait the 10 days. The CDC doesn't come into play.
Please be careful when you choose to answer questions like the OPs. It does a disservice to disseminate inaccurate information. The CDC certainly does make information about it available, and they drive nation-wide programs (to do things like increase the availability of vaccines), but (to my knowledge) they do not mandate any treatment for human exposure. They do provide recommendations with regards to appropriate treatment (like the PrEP and PEP), but they do not mandate them.
