UK chikungunya circumstances rise amid vaccine security considerations
New knowledge revealed by the UK Well being Safety Company (UKHSA) has discovered that travel-related chikungunya circumstances are up 170%, as one of many nation’s two authorised vaccines stays controversial as a consequence of security considerations.
Reported infections from the tropical virus have risen from 27 this time in 2024 to 73 in 2025, primarily stemming from journey to the Indian Ocean area – with the company’s report particularly naming India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.
This follows a stream of outbreaks throughout the globe, with the European Centre for Illness Prevention and Management (ECDC) estimating that there have been 240,000 chikungunya circumstances worldwide between January and July 2025.
The mosquito-borne illness, unfold by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, is related to a sudden-onset fever and chronic joint ache that may final between one week and years after an infection.
Although not often deadly, there have been a number of outbreaks of the virus within the Americas, in addition to South and East Asia, with infections primarily being problematic for people with pre-existing comorbidities or those that are immunocompromised.
The illness has additionally been proven to have a major impression on neonatal well being, elevating the chance of loss of life in infants born to moms contaminated with the virus by 50%, says a report from Pharmaceutical Expertise‘s mother or father firm GlobalData.
There are two vaccines at the moment authorised by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare merchandise Regulatory Company (MHRA) to guard in opposition to an infection by chikungunya: Bavarian Nordics’ Vimkunya and Valneva’s Ixchiq. These can be found to buy by non-public journey clinics, which aren’t a part of the nationwide immunisation schedule.
Nevertheless, Ixchiq’s future has been hanging within the steadiness following its UK approval in February 2025. This is because of two deaths within the French territory of La Reunion linked to a mass vaccination programme involving Ixchiq, which was initiated after a major chikungunya outbreak in March.
This has brought about the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to suggest the restriction of Ixchiq’s utilization in aged sufferers as a consequence of security considerations. Within the wake of this, the MHRA suspended the vaccine’s use in people aged 65 years and over, pending additional assessment.
An investigation by US regulators, nevertheless, deemed the La Reunion deaths unlinked – ensuing within the US pause being revoked. Regardless of this, the US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) has tightened restrictions round its use, advising that solely people at excessive threat of contracting the illness obtain Ixchiq.
This differs from the earlier allocation, which really helpful the vaccine’s use for these at intermediate threat.
A complete of 17 opposed occasions (AEs) in sufferers over 62 years have been linked to the jab.
Regardless of the controversy confronted by Ixchiq, analysts at GlobalData have predicted that the drug will generate greater gross sales than Vimkunya. By 2031, it’s forecasted to herald $237m in contrast with Bavarian Nordics’ vaccine, which is estimated to make $170m for the corporate.
This pattern might be as a consequence of Ixchiq’s first-in-disease standing, because the vaccine was given FDA clearance in November 2023.
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