The authorities withdraw from vaccination seniors in Mayotte and Reunion – Liberation
The fight against the chikungunya epidemic in Reunion is complicated: health authorities have just withdrawn « Without delay » The over 65s of the vaccination campaign for the Indian Ocean Island and Mayotte after three « Serious unwanted events » including a death.
This decision occurs a few weeks after the launch of this campaign which targeted seniors in priority, at a time when the chikungunya epidemic has already caused the death of nine people in Reunion, according to a provisional assessment.
« Given the severity of these events, the Directorate General of Health urgently seized the High Authority for Health on April 24 to reassess the indications for vaccination against chikungunya by the IXCHIQ vaccine » The Valneva laboratory said the Ministry of Health.
The High Authority for Health (HAS) having spoken on Friday in favor of revising the targets of vaccination, the health authorities decided to withdraw from the vaccination target, « Without delay, people 65 and over with or not comorbidities ».
Contacted by AFP, Valneva did not react at this stage.
The three serious undesirable events occurred in Reunion in people over 80 with comorbidities, the Ministry of Health said. « Two people have presented symptoms similar to those of a serious chikungunya form a few days after vaccination, one of which died. The third came out of hospitalization »we continued from the same source.
On April 17, the drug agency announced « Reinforced monitoring » possible post-vaccination side effects with the IXCHIQ vaccine.
« Vaccination remains open for people aged 18 to 64 with comorbidities »however, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.
Chikungunya, an infectious disease due to a virus transmitted by the tiger mosquito, causes high fever and joint pain that can last for several weeks. There is no specific treatment against the disease.
Faced with a generalized and major epidemic in Reunion, A vaccination campaign was launched by health authorities in early April on the island. The vaccine used, Ixchiq, is the first against chikungunya to have obtained a marketing authorization in Europe.
Some 40,000 doses of this vaccine arrived in Reunion and an additional 60,000 were purchased. They were priority intended for people 65 and over with comorbidities. The vaccination campaign started « timidly »had recently indicated the director general of the Regional Health Agency, Gérard COOLLON.
The provisional assessment of the chikungunya epidemic in Reunion is nine dead, according to the health authorities which emphasize that the epidemic is « Stabilizes at a high level »according to figures given Wednesday.
From April 7 to 13, the last week for which the data is known, 350 emergencies were recorded against 289 the previous week, an increase of 21 %.
The number of confirmed cases recorded over the same period is down, from 6,237 to 4,304, but Public Health France specifies that this number is not consolidated and that it could therefore prove to be higher.
The current epidemic began in August 2024but cases exploded from March 2025. Before this outbreak, no case of Chikungunya had been reported since 2010 in Reunion since 2010. A large epidemic had touched 260,000 people there and left more than 200 dead between 2005 and 2006.
