US health officials advise older travelers not to get a chikungunya
vaccine
[May 13, 2025]
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government advised American travelers age 60
and older not get a chikungunya vaccine as it investigates possible side
effects.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug
Administration posted notices late last week on the vaccine, Valneva’s
Ixchiq.
Chikungunya, spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes, is a
debilitating tropical illness marked by fever and joint pain. About 100
to 200 cases are reported annually among U.S. travelers.
Last year, the government began recommending the vaccine, which is made
with weakened chikungunya virus, to U.S. adults who travel to countries
where chikungunya is a problem.
But last month, a panel of vaccine experts who advise the CDC heard
about an investigation into six people 65 and older — most of them with
other medical problems — who became ill with heart or brain symptoms
less than a week after vaccination. More than 10 other similar cases
have been reported in people from other countries.
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 European regulators are also looking
into the issue.
The U.S. advisers voted to issue a precaution for people 65 and
older about getting the vaccine.
They also recommended that a second chikungunya vaccine — Bavarian
Nordic's Vimkunya — be made available for people age 12 and older
who are traveling to countries where outbreaks of the mosquito-borne
illness are occurring. CDC officials have not yet announced whether
they will accept those recommendations.
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