Recouping my “investment” in rabies vaccination

September 24, 2021 10:13 AM

Recently I received a course of post-exposure prophylaxis treatment for rabies exposure. I am in the US, so it was expensive, with the bulk of the cost being the human rabies immunoglobulin. The cost is high because it must be filtered from blood from the vaccinated. Is there any way for me to sign up to sell my own immunoglobulin?

I am fortunate to have decent insurance and can afford the full treatment without doing this. But it would be nice if it were possible, even if it probably wouldn’t lower the cost for others.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

You can make a couple hundred dollars a month by donating blood plasma. One use of that plasma is for producing rabies immunoglobulin.

I don't know where you are, but here is one lab where I live. I've never heard of labs paying more or less for blood with any particular immune response.
posted by saeculorum at 10:46 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

This page specifically mentions rabies-vaccinated donors. They have a list of locations, only a few of which collects rabies plasma. The Pittsburgh center claims "up to $1000/month" for specialty plasma.
posted by dum spiro spero at 11:02 AM on September 24, 2021

google "specialty plasma donation" for your area and you should get hits for centers near you that do it.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:14 PM on September 24, 2021