and newborn babies are most at risk. Currently, there are no approved vaccines to prevent the disease caused by CHIKV infection nor are there effective antiviral treatments for the disease.
Study author Katrin Dubischar, Program Director, Chikungunya Vaccine at Valneva says,"At present, there is no dedicated treatment or vaccine available against chikungunya, which is a debilitating disease whose symptoms can persist on a long-term basis. Moreover, it is currently regarded as one of the viruses most likely to spread globally, and studies have shown that climate change is driving the spread of the mosquitoes that carry it into new areas of the world.
After a single vaccination, VLA1553 induced antibody levels at a level that is considered to protect against disease among 99% of participants. There was no difference inVLA1553 was generally well tolerated across all age groups with most adverse events being mild or moderate. In those given the vaccine, the most common adverse events were headaches , fatigue , muscle pain , joint pain , and pain at the injection site .
Serious adverse events were reported in 2% of participants exposed to VLA1553 and 1% of participants in the placebo arm . Two of these were classified as related to the vaccine. One was a case of mild muscle pain in a woman with a medical history of fibromyalgia, and the other was a fever, which resulted in hospitalization. Neither of these cases resulted in death.