Vaccine News

The American Medical Association (AMA), in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today announced it has developed a new toolkit to help clinicians offer better care for patients with prolonged, non-specific symptoms and concerns about Lyme disease. 

The CDC has scheduled a COCA Call for September 19, 2024, when presenters will share a brief overview of Lyme disease, provide a diagnostic and management framework for patients with prolonged symptoms and concerns about Lyme disease, and review new clinical tools and resources to help support these patients. 

If you cannot attend the live COCA Call, the recording will be available on the webpage. The slide set will be available on the day of the call under Call Materials on the COCA Call webpage.

According to recent data, Lyme disease has continued spreading in the United States from the northeast into the upper midwest. And in various Euopean countries.

About 329,000 persons annually are diagnosed with Lyme disease in the U.S.

While most patients recover fully after treatment, but about 5 to 10% can have prolonged symptoms such as fatigue, pain, and difficulty thinking.

As of September 9, 2024, there are no Lyme disease approved vaccines.

However, Valneva SE's VLA15 vaccine candidate has advanced the furthest along the clinical development timeline, with two Phase 3 trials in progress.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently announced the arrival of the first shipment of 99,100 doses of the JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN®) mpox - smallpox vaccine.

On September 5, 2024, the Bavarian Nordic A/S produced vaccines were officially received by the Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Samuel Roger Kamba, alongside others.

Additional shipments to the DRC are planned for a total of more than 250,000 vaccines.

Since the start of 2024, DRC has reported over 4,901 confirmed mpox clade 1 cases, with more than 629 associated deaths, representing a sharp escalation in both infections and fatalities compared to previous years.

According to the Africa CDC, introducing the two-dose JYNNEOS vaccine is a decisive action to mitigate further spread and protect the most at-risk populations.

The U.S. government has confirmed that two doses provide robust protection against disease, and booster doses (3rd) are not endorsed. As of September 2024, JYNNEOS is commercially available in the U.S.; however, routine immunization against mpox is not recommended for the general public.

The Brant County Health Unit (BCHU) has received confirmation of a human case of rabies in a resident of Brantford-Brant, Ontario, Canada.

As of September 6, 2024, the individual was hospitalized. As a precaution, family members and other close contacts are being assessed and offered post-exposure prophylaxis, as needed. 

While the suspected exposure of the case was from a bat in the Gowganda area of the Timiskaming region, bats in all areas of Ontario are known to carry rabies. Bats, skunks, foxes, and raccoons are the most common to spread the rabies virus in Canada.

Ontario’s last domestic case of human rabies occurred in 1967, and there have been 26 human cases in Canada since 1924.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that dogs spread most rabies cases globally. To date, there has never been a documented case of human-to-human transmission of rabies virus.

Once the virus infects the central nervous system and clinical symptoms appear, rabies is fatal in 100% of cases. There are an estimated 59,000 deaths from rabies annually. However, due to underreporting, documented case numbers often differ from the estimate, says the WHO.

Even though rabies is well-controlled in the United States, over 4 million Americans report animal bites each year, with 800,000 seeking medical attention.

In 2022, 54 U.S. jurisdictions reported 3,579 animal rabies cases. However, only ten people die from rabies infection annually in the U.S.

Rabies is a viral infection that causes brain and spinal cord inflammation. It is typically spread to humans through direct contact with saliva or mucous of an infected animal, such as through a bite or scratch. Even tiny bites or scratches, which can be challenging to see, can transmit the virus. 

Effective rabies vaccines are available to immunize people before and after potential exposures.

As of 2024, three WHO pre-qualified human rabies vaccines, RABIVAX-S, VaxiRab N, and VERORAB, are available globally. In the United States, rabies vaccines are generally offered at travel clinics and pharmacies. 

Note: This news article was updated on Sept. 28, 2024.

New research by modeling experts shows that vaccinating against Lassa Fever—a viral disease—would prevent millions of people from falling ill.

Lassa fever is found in parts of West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria, where the first documented case occurred in 1969. 

According to modeling by the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, deploying an effective Lassa vaccine across 15 countries of continental West Africa could save nearly 3,300 lives over ten years, wrote the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

The model was published on August 28, 2024, and predicted 2.7 million (95% uncertainty interval: 2.1–3.4 million) Lassa virus infections annually. However, due to limited access to diagnostics and healthcare, Lassa’s true disease burden could be much higher than reported. 

They also model the emergence of ‘Lassa-X’—a hypothetical pandemic Lassa virus variant—and project impacts of achieving 100 Days Mission vaccination targets.

The results showed that around 5,500 lives could be saved and 33,000 hospitalizations avoided throughout a two-year outbreak if safe and 70% effective Lassa X vaccines were given to 40% of people per year starting within 100 days. 

Overall, the most effective vaccination strategy was a population-wide preventive campaign targeting WHO-classified ‘endemic’ districts.

Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, commented in a press release, “This study demonstrates the urgent need for a vaccine to protect people from this debilitating and sometimes deadly disease. Lassa fever has been a priority for CEPI since our launch in 2017, and we are proud to be one of the world’s leading Lassa vaccine R&D funders.” 

CEPI is one of the world’s leading Lassa vaccine candidate R&D funders. To date, it has invested in six potential vaccine candidates, of which four have progressed into human testing.

One of CEPI’s partners, IAVI, has launched the first-ever Phase II clinical trial of a Lassa vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria. 

Novavax Inc. announced on X today that its updated 2024-2025 formula COVID-19 vaccine (NVX-CoV2705) has received Marketing Approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

As of September 6, 2024, Novavax's vaccine is the only non-mRNA, protein-based COVID-19 vaccine available in the U.S. following the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting emergency use authorization.

John C. Jacobs, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Novavax, commented in a recent press release, "Our updated vaccine targets JN.1, the 'parent strain' of currently circulating variants, and has shown robust cross-reactivity against JN.1 lineage viruses, including KP.2.3, KP.3, KP.3.1.1 and LB.1."

Since August 2020, Novavax and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have partnered to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Novavax’s COVID‑19 vaccines.

Before visiting Japan, the U.S. CDC recommends travelers speak with a healthcare provider one month before departure about their vaccination options.

When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination for seniors in 2023, prelicensure trials were not powered to assess efficacy against RSV-associated hospitalization, excluded immunocompromised patients, and underrepresented other groups at increased risk of severe RSV disease, including adults aged 75 years and older.

A recent real-world study published by The JAMA Network Research Letter on September 4, 2024, evaluated the effectiveness (VE) of the RSV vaccine against RSV-associated hospitalization during the first season of use.

These researchers concluded VE against RSV-associated hospitalization was 75% (95% confidence interval (50% to 87%).

As of May 2024, the CDC RSVVaxView estimated that 24.4% of adults 60 and older received an RSV vaccine.

As of September 2024, three RSV vaccines are authorized for use in the United States and are readily available at most clinics and pharmacies before the 2024-2025 RSV season intensifies during the winter months.

Without a herpes preventive vaccine available in 2024, post-infection treatments offer patients their best option.

Over the past few years, an antiviral drug named Acyclovir has been used to slow the spreading and lessen the symptoms of the Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1) virus.

However, Acyclovir will not cure herpes.

To address this need, Theralase® Technologies Inc. today announced that its lead drug formulation, Ruvidar™, could be more effective in destroying HSV-1 than Acyclovir.

Another important pre-clinical observation is that Acyclovir could not prevent HSV-1 replication if added one day after infection. However, Ruvidar prevented HSV-1 replication by ten million-fold when added one day after infection.

In other words, from a clinical perspective, if a patient has pre-existing HSV-1, then Acyclovir could not prevent the virus' replication; however, Ruvidar TM would be highly effective, the company wrote on September 3, 2024.

Roger DuMoulin-White, B.E.Sc., P.Eng., Pro.Dir., President and Chief Executive Officer of Theralase, stated in a press release, “This latest research continues to strengthen what we already know; Ruvidar is a very potent drug in the destruction of cancer, viruses, and bacteria on its own and is further enhanced by light, radiation, sound or drug activation."

"Based on this latest research, Theralase® plans to commence seeking a partner/licensing opportunity in the development of Ruvidar™ for both a topical and oral treatment for the prevention and treatment of herpes simplex.“

In previous research, Ruvidar was found effective at inactivating both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses.