As another poster has said, we didn't really "lose" that fight. Rabies has always been that way - invariably fatal unless treated, and the only treatment (outside some insane edge cases) is the administration of the rabies vaccine shortly after (or ideally before) contact.

The very low rabies incidence and near zero fatalities of rabies in the developed world actually show that it's a very winnable fight. The issue is, we have to show up to said fight. In the developing world, we're not always good at that.

I hadn't seen the newer revision of the protocol, only the original 2 out of 25 number. "Indistinguishable from 100%" was perhaps a little severe, but 90% survival is still pretty long odds.