Stakeholder meeting report: Chikungunya virus - recent outbreaks, vaccine development and the way forward

Abstract

The International Vaccine Institute and Gorgas Institute (Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies) organized the first Chikungunya Global Meeting in Panama City, Panama on December 12-13, 2023. Experts represented eight countries: Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Panama, Paraguay, and Thailand. The aim of this meeting was for stakeholders to discuss chikungunya disease burden, vaccine deployment strategies, regulatory challenges, and access issues. This meeting highlighted lessons learned from recent chikungunya outbreaks and perspectives on ways forward in chikungunya research. Specifically, the following topics were discussed in the meeting: (i) lessons from recent chikungunya outbreaks and regional perspectives, (ii) chikungunya research priorities, (iii) chikungunya vaccine development, (iv) regulatory approval and pathways, (v) vaccine access, financing, and procurement, (vi) ways forward through a chikungunya vaccine initiative, and (vii) chikungunya research on how to analyse protection and long-term memory. Experts called for investments in vaccine deployment and a better understanding of the long-term economic impacts of chikungunya. Going forward, the experts recommended creation of a global chikungunya vaccine initiative to coordinate research and generate evidence to inform prevention and control programmes of chikungunya outbreaks and introduction of chikungunya vaccination in high-burden settings and regions at risk of chikungunya outbreaks.