“The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the world’s first vaccine for chikungunya, which it sees as an ’emerging global health threat.’ The mosquito-borne disease causes fever and joint pains and can be fatal to newborns.
The FDA’s approval is expected to speed up the vaccine’s global rollout. This year, about 440,000 chikungunya cases, including 350 deaths, have been reported as of September.”
From BBC.
“Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, the country saw hundreds of thousands of measles infections each year. Within a decade of the vaccine’s roll-out, infections in the United States plummeted from about 450,000 a year to fewer than 50,000 (see ‘Measles cases in the United States’). …
The world is teetering on the edge of eradicating polio, thanks to a global vaccination campaign that has eliminated the virus in every country except Afghanistan and Pakistan. …
In total, childhood vaccinations have saved about 154 million lives over the past 50 years.”
From Nature.
“Researchers who tracked cases of dementia in Welsh adults have uncovered the strongest evidence yet that the shingles vaccination reduces the risk of developing the devastating brain disease.
Health records of more than 280,000 older adults revealed that those who received a largely discontinued shingles vaccine called Zostavax were 20% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia over the next seven years than those who went without.
Pascal Geldsetzer, at Stanford University, said: ‘For the first time we are able to say much more confidently that the shingles vaccine causes a reduction in dementia risk. If this truly is a causal effect, we have a finding that’s of tremendous importance.'”
From The Guardian.
“Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic announced on Feb. 14, 2025 that its recombinant vaccine for chikungunya, marketed as Vimkunya, was approved by FDA for use in individuals aged 12 and older, the first such virus-like particle (VLP), single-dose vaccine for the chikungunya virus in the United States…
Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the virus of the same name (CHIKV) (1). Bavarian Nordic said CHIKV has been identified in more than 110 countries, and over the last five years, evidence of transmission has been confirmed in more than 50 countries. Also, CHIKV may be underreported or misdiagnosed as dengue fever due to a similar symptom profile.
Those symptoms, according to Bavarian Nordic, include fever, rash, fatigue, headache, and joint pain that can be severe or even incapacitating. Although most patients recover, as many as 40% may have chronic symptoms lasting anywhere from months to years (1).
More than 200 deaths from chikungunya were reported worldwide in 2024, out of 620,000 confirmed cases.”
From BioPharm.
“One year since the launch of routine malaria vaccinations in Africa, over 9.8 million doses of malaria vaccines (in total 12 million since 2023) have been delivered to 17 endemic countries through the Gavi malaria vaccination programme.
Surpassing the initial target of 15 countries, the pace of rollout is an indication of the high demand for this new tool as well as years of preparation by countries and partners. In total, an estimated 5 million children in these 17 countries that collectively represent more than 70% of the world’s malaria burden have been protected…
Data released this month by Cameroon’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) found that districts included in the first wave of vaccination saw a higher drop, of 17% in all-cause hospital/clinic consultations for children under five years than those areas without the vaccine. About 60% of the malaria-vaccinating districts recorded a drop in all-cause under-five deaths, and 57% recorded a drop in deaths linked to malaria in children aged under five.
With the vaccine administered so far to over 130,000 children in the country, experts caution that – while these results are promising and consistent with MVIP findings – additional data, study and follow-ups are needed to demonstrate the direct impact of the vaccine.”
From Gavi.
