FDA lifts pause on vaccine with serious side effects against virus in China sparking global epidemic fears | 11 Aug 2025 | The FDA has lifted a pause on the administration of a vaccine for the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness currently spreading from China. The Ixchiq single-dose vaccine was approved for adults 18 and up at risk of exposure to the virus in 2023, when the CDC had recorded 152 travel-associated cases of the virus, the highest rate in four years. But administrations of the shot to adults aged 60 and older were paused in May of this year, triggered by reports of 17 serious side effects following vaccination, including two deaths. The European Medicines Agency suspended Ixchiq's use in May and the FDA soon followed. A second chikungunya vaccine, Vimkunya, was approved by the FDA in February 2025.