Do we actually know for sure the virus infects and propagates in non-nerve cells in these individuals? Viral particles can stimulate an immune response without ever infecting a cell (as in the way vaccines with dead virus work) so it doesn’t require propagation to stimulate antibodies in theory.

As to whether the immune system can stop rabies once it enters a nerve: animal bites take varying lengths of time to progress to symptomatic disease based on where they occur, with bites around the neck and face progressing to symptomatic rabies infections in days or weeks, but bites on the feet taking up to a year to reach the brain.

However, vaccination for rabies is effective at any time before symptoms appear. So it would seem that the body has ways of clearing the infection from nerve tissue. It is less effective at detecting the virus there and mounting a response, but when a response is stimulated by a vaccine, it seems to work.