First Chikungunya Vaccine Lands Conditional FDA Approval

[drrich2]

From an article at MedPageToday. Thought this might be of interest, since chikungunya is a risk in the Caribbean and can be quite debilitating. While vacation against it sounds great, this may be a case where paying attention to the numbers is wise.

If I understand correctly, it was tested as a single injection and at 28 days post-vaccination 98.9% had neutralizing antibody levels shown to be protective. While that doesn't tell us how effective it'll be after 6 months, a year, etc..., it sound promising.

Here's the fly in the ointment for me.

"In trials, severe chikungunya-like side effects occurred in 1.6% of the individuals receiving the vaccine, including two hospitalizations, and some recipients had reactions of this sort lasting a month or more."

If your odds of getting chikungunya are less than 1.6%, given a trip or two per year to the tropics in areas where it's a known risk, does getting the vaccination make sense?

I then wonder, if granted full approval in the future, where it'll be practical to get it. Is this going to be like getting vaccinated for yellow fever, which seems to require going out of one's way to find and secure it (I have not been vaccinated against yellow fever)?

 

[afdgf]

Has anyone had any experience with getting the vaccine? What happened? How difficult to get? How expensive? Was it covered by insurance or Medicare? How bad were the side effects? It is strongly recommended for us folks who are old and decrepit.

 

[drrich2]

FDA Approves Vimkunya to Protect Against Chikungunya Virus​

Article from Feb. 18, 2025 - Medical Professionals Reference by Diana Ernst.

Some excerpts:

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to Vimkunya™ (chikungunya vaccine, recombinant) for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in individuals 12 years of age and older."

"Vimkunya is supplied as an injectable suspension; the vaccine is administered intramuscularly as a single 0.8mL dose. According to Bavarian Nordic, Vimkunya will be available in the US in the first half of 2025."

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Important Note: This is not the same vaccine as discussed in the 1st post in this thread. That was Ixchiq, and this is Vimkunya. I made a judgment call to post about Vimkunya in this thread, to keep it all together and since this thread only had 2 posts. From what I've read, chikungunya can be a miserable and debilitating viral illness none of us would want to have to endure a bad case of.

 

[therookie]

chikungunya can be a miserable and debilitating viral illness none of us would want to have to endure a bad case of

I have a number of friends here who have indeed endured it. What you read is 100% correct...

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

What is the impact of chickamunga disease, other than "bad"?

 

[therookie]

What is the impact of chickamunga disease, other than "bad"?

The worst, as described to me, is the pain (and sometimes swelling) in the joints. The pain for some has lasted weeks beyond all the other symptoms.

There are other symptoms, but that's what affected those that described it me the most.

 

[drrich2]

This could get a little confusing since this thread has posts covering 2 different vaccines, but I think the topic is new enough, and the overarching concerns similar enough, to justify keeping it together this way.

The first, older vaccine version, is the subject of some medical events of concern, and I thought people should have access to that info. if they're interested:

Feb 28, 2025

CDC investigates 5 cases of cardiac or neurologic events in older chikungunya vaccine recipients​

IXCHIQ is currently the only chikungunya vaccine authorized in the US, having FDA approval in November 2023. The article links to a CDC webpage with a lot more info. on the vaccine:

Chikungunya Vaccine Information for Healthcare Providers​

From the article:

"Chikungunya vaccine recommendations for travelers​

Chikungunya vaccine is recommended for persons aged 18 years and older traveling to a country or territory where there is a chikungunya outbreak.

Chikungunya vaccine also may be considered for the following persons traveling to a country or territory without an outbreak but with evidence of chikungunya virus transmission among humans within the last 5 years:

• Persons aged >65 years, particularly those with underlying medical conditions, who are likely to have at least moderate exposure* to mosquitoes, OR
• Persons staying for a cumulative period of 6 months or more.

*Moderate exposure could include travelers who might have at least 2 weeks (cumulative) of exposure to mosquitoes in indoor or outdoor settings. It does not include travelers who might have limited exposure to mosquitoes (e.g., business travelers likely to be mainly in mosquito-protected indoor settings).

Healthcare providers can use CDC's decision tree to help determine when chikungunya vaccination for travelers is appropriate."

There's a downloadable decision tree resource of some sort.

I scanned over some of this; the main thing I didn't notice was a report of how many people have received the vaccine. 5 Isn't a bit number and people who haven't had the vaccine can develop cardiac and/or neurological events, so it sounds too early to presume the vaccine had anything to do with any of them.

Perhaps the main update is stay tuned to the issue.