Are Chikungunya Vaccines Available in 2023

A Perspective was recently published highlighting a seldom discussed and hard-to-spell mosquito-transmitted disease's impact on thousands of people's health in 2023.

Chikungunya is an arboviral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), afflicting tropical and sub-tropical countries in 2023. Chikungunya outbreaks are primarily found in Africa, Asia, Brazil, and the Indian subcontinent.

For example, about 324,000 chikungunya cases have been reported in the Americas in 2023. As the Republic of Paraguay's ongoing Chikungunya outbreak confirms, this disease can be devastating.

Furthermore, it has been identified as a priority pathogen by the Coalition for Epidemics Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and an emerging infectious disease.

And its impact has been measured.

Recent studies suggest that disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to CHIKV infection are as high as 106,089 DALYs lost globally.

The good news in 2023 is that significant progress has been made in developing several CHIKV vaccine candidates to prevent the disease.

Recently, Vaneva SE's VLA1553 monovalent, single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine candidate was assigned by the U.S. FDA a Prescription Drug User Fee Act review goal date at the end of 2023.

This perspective article published by the journal Nature on August 18, 2023, summarizes CEPI's efforts and strategic considerations for developing a CHIKV vaccine.