Travel Vaccine Breaking News

Coconino County Health and Human Services officials recently confirmed a resident died from pneumonic plague, a severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium.

As of July 11, 2025, this is the first recorded death from Pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007, when an individual had an interaction with a dead animal infected with the disease. 

The new death is not related to a recent report of a prairie dog die-off in the Townsend Winona area, northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased,” said Coconino County Board of Supervisors Chair Patrice Horstman in a press release.

“Out of respect for the family, no additional information about the death will be released.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of seven human plague cases are reported each year in the United States. The last urban plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles from 1924 through 1925.

The CDC states that the risk to the local public from exposure to plague remains low. 

More recent plague epidemics have occurred in Africa, Asia, and South America.

The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, can be transmitted to humans from the bite of an infected flea or through contact with an infected animal. According to health officials, the risk of human-to-human transmission is very low. The last reported occurrence of human-to-human transmission in the U.S. was reported in 1924.

Without a vaccine to prevent plauge epidemics, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) continues to fund development efforts.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation confirmed in February 2025 that it continues developing a plague vaccine candidate (rF1V) with the CpG 1018® adjuvant in collaboration with, and fully funded by, the DoD.

Dynavax and the DoD executed a new agreement for approximately $30 million through the first half of 2027 to support additional clinical and manufacturing activities, including a Phase 2 clinical trial expected to initiate in the third quarter of 2025.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently confirmed that the spread of the poliovirus remained a global Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

To address the under-vaccinated population, two announcements indicate a path to reduce the detections of poliovirus and minimize the number of polio outbreaks. 

On July 10, 2025, PharmaJet® announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the integration of needle-free delivery of inactivated polio vaccine into Egypt’s routine immunization program. The agreement includes provisions for distribution, technology transfer, manufacturing, and the development of new pharmaceutical products, as well as collaboration to increase needle-free access within Egypt and the region.

Seperately, the Government of Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, has provided UNICEF with $5 million for a renewed partnership to eradicate polio and strengthen routine immunization across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. This 12-month initiative aims to reach over 13 million children with lifesaving polio vaccines, supporting both routine vaccination and national polio campaigns.

Previously, to alert international travelers of the expanded health risk in 41 countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reissued a Global Polio Alert—Level 2, Travel Health Notice on June 16, 2025, regarding polio outbreaks and poliovirus detections.

As of July 12, 2025, the CDC recommends that travelers complete their routine polio vaccination series. Some people may also need a booster dose before visiting areas with outbreaks, such as Afghanistan and Germany.

In the United States, polio vaccines are available at travel clinics and pharmacies.

When most vacationers book their summer vacation in countries in the Southern Hemisphere, they should consider how to protect themselves from influenza. Currently, the World Health Organization (Influenza Update N° 534) is advising everyone in the 'south' to speak with a healthcare provider about immunization options.

As of July 2025, influenza positivity was elevated in countries of Tropical and Temperate South America, Southern and Eastern Africa, and South-East Asia.

The risk of exposure to the influenza virus during travel depends on the time of year and destination. In temperate regions, such as Brazil, influenza epidemics are more common from April to September in the Southern Hemisphere.

In the Northern Hemisphere, specifically in the United States, the previous flu season was notably severe, marking the worst in 15 years.

To help protect international travelers and others, CSL Seqirus recently announced that the company started shipping its differentiated portfolio of flu vaccines for the 2025-2026 season in the United States.

"During this past flu season, doctors' offices, emergency departments and hospitals across the country were filled with patients affected by the flu," said Gregg Sylvester, Chief Health Officer, CSL Seqirus, in a press release on July 10, 1025.

"We experienced the impact flu can have on our communities, our healthcare systems, and in our own homes. To make sure this doesn't happen again, vaccination is the first and most important action to help prevent flu and its potentially serious consequences."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is recommended that all eligible individuals aged six months and older receive an annual influenza vaccine, especially those at an increased risk of severe influenza-related complications, such as older adults, pregnant individuals, and children under five years old.

Flu shots and other travel vaccines are offered at clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.

The multi-year, global outbreak of pertussis (Whooping cough) cases has continued through the first half of 2025.

In Japan, pertussis has been a category V notifiable disease under the Infectious Diseases Control Law since January 2018. As of July 10, 2025, the Japan Institute for Health Security Infectious Disease Information website reveals that 39,672 pertussis cases were reported in 2025. 

This total surpasses the amount recorded in 2019, 16,845, and the 4,096 pertussis cases reported in 2024.

According to the U.S. CDC, pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory infection marked by severe coughing fits. It can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia and encephalopathy, and poses a potentially fatal risk to infants and other vulnerable individuals, such as pregnant women.

Since pertussis remains one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths worldwide, the CDC recommends that international travelers ensure they are immunized before visiting Japan in 2025.

The reappearance of 138 chikungunya cases in the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 2024 after a 7-year absence indicated the potential for larger outbreaks in the future.

In June 2025, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research in Bangladesh reported an outbreak of chikungunya in Dhaka city, with 337 cases reported between January and May 28, 2025.

Dhaka is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world, with a population exceeding 10 million.

In addition to locals being at risk for this mosquito-transmitted virus, over 650,000 foreign visitors are expected to visit Bangladesh in 2025.

According to the U.S. CDC, travelers visiting areas with ongoing chikungunya outbreaks are at risk of infection. These health risk areas are constantly changing and evolving; therefore, travellers should check the latest information on outbreaks before departing abroad.

As of July 9, 2025, two new chikungunya vaccines have been approved for use in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States. These vaccines are commercially offered at travel clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.

The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been present in wild birds worldwide and caused outbreaks in U.S. domestic birds and dairy cattle in 2024-2025.

While there were 70 humans infected with HPAI, and one related fatality, there was no human-to-human transmission of this serious virus.

However, since February 25, 2024, only six human cases have been reported.

As the number of infections has recently decreased, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it has streamlined H5N1 bird flu updates with routine influenza data and reporting cadences to reflect the current public health situation.

As of July 7, 2025, the following changes were made to this CDC webpage:

Data on the number of people monitored and tested for bird flu are reported on a monthly basis.

Data on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in animals will no longer be reported on the CDC website. These HPAI data can be found on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website.

Furthermore, the CDC will report any additional human cases of H5 bird flu here and in FluView.

While there are 'bird-flu' vaccines approved by the U.S. FDA, none were deployed in the USA during this outbreak.

Over the past decade, numerious herpes zoster cases were prevented with two doses of a U.S. FDA-approved vaccine that contains an adjuvant. According to new research, there may be an additional, measurable benefit from vaccination.

A Brief Communication published by NPJ Vaccines on June 25, 2025, reported a lower risk of dementia associated with AS01-adjuvanted vaccination against shingles.

In propensity-score matched cohort studies involving 436,788 individuals, both the AS01-adjuvanted shingles and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, administered individually or in combination, were associated with a reduced risk of dementia at 18 months.

AS01 may protect against dementia through specific immunological pathways.

In particular, stimulation of toll-like receptor 4 with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL; one of the components of the AS01 system) has been shown to improve Alzheimer’s disease pathology in mice.

In addition, the two main ingredients of AS01, MPL and QS-21 (a purified plant extract derived from Quillaja saponaria), act synergistically to activate macrophages and dendritic cells, triggering an age-independent cytokine cascade that culminates in the production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ).

IFN-γ might attenuate amyloid plaque deposition (as seen in mice) and is negatively correlated with cognitive decline in cognitively unimpaired older adults.

These neuroprotective mechanisms may reach their full potential at or below the dose of AS01 administered within a single vaccine, so that administering both the AS01 shingles and RSV vaccines does not provide any additional benefits.

This saturation effect could also explain why the level of protection against dementia appears similar between the AS01 shingles vaccine (which is given in two doses) and the AS01 RSV vaccine (administered as a single dose).

No difference was observed between the two AS01-adjuvanted vaccines, suggesting that the AS01 adjuvant itself plays a direct role in reducing the risk of dementia.

A previous study found similar cross-protection benefits.

 In July 2024, a University of Oxford-led study concluded that receiving the recombinant Shingrix® vaccine was associated with a 17% increase in diagnosis-free time, translating into 164 additional days lived without a diagnosis of dementia in those subsequently affected.

As of July 7, 2025, shingles vaccination services are offered at most pharmacies in the United States.