First of all, yes there was once a Lyme vaccine – https://www.aamc.org/news/lyme-disease-rise-why-there-still-no-vaccine#:~:text=LYMErix%2C%20manufactured%20by%20what%20was,FDA%20approved%20it%20in%201998 and a bit more – https://thewalrus.ca/lyme-disease-vaccine/. At present, however, your dog can be vaccinated, but you cannot. It’s interesting that a Lyme vaccine is required if it’s rare, hard to get, and easy to treat, as some doctors will still say. Fortunately, many doctors are now acknowledging that it is a bigger problem then we were once told.

There are a variety of vaccines presently being developed. Some are for humans and some are for mice.

The chatter around Lyme disease vaccines is becoming greater lately. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Valneva/Pfizer are in Phase 3 of a Lyme vaccine – https://valneva.com/research-development/lyme-disease/; https://valneva.com/press-release/pfizer-and-valneva-complete-recruitment-for-phase-3-valor-trial-for-lyme-disease-vaccine-candidate-vla15/. It looks like it will be the first to market.

From what I have read, including this – https://valneva.com/press-release/valneva-announces-publication-of-lyme-disease-phase-2-trials-in-the-lancet-infectious-diseases/, this vaccine is only for Lyme disease. If that is the case, I do have some worries. What if you are bitten by a tick carrying something instead of, or along with, Lyme? Will the vaccine help, or hinder, diagnosis and treatment of any other potential tick-borne disease? Will it be 100% effective for Lyme? If not, will doctors say you don’t have Lyme because you were vaccinated? They frequently say you don’t have Lyme because the test was negative, even though there are several reasons for a false negative test.

There are actually a number of other human vaccines also in the development stage that I think might have value – https://igenex.com/tick-talk/recent-developments-in-lyme-disease-vaccinations-what-you-need-to-know/. However, these have the same questions as the one above as they are all Lyme related, as far as I can tell.

There is also work underway to vaccinate white-footed mice, a carrier of the Lyme bacteria – https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-lyme-vaccine-mice-protect-humans & https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3610442/#:~:text=Oral%20vaccination%20of%20white%2Dfooted,burgdorferi%20infection (this is from 2013 and begs the question as to why something hadn’t been developed before now).

This is a bit more on another? vaccine – https://news.uthsc.edu/uthsc-researchers-lyme-disease-intervention-headed-to-market/, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-023-00802-y, and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38360853/. This may be one already mentioned as some are quite similar.

This vaccine is confusing me a bit as most research starts with mice – https://www.the-scientist.com/newly-developed-mrna-vaccine-protects-against-lyme-disease-71477. I think it is eventually meant for humans – https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-therapy/fulltext/S1525-0016(23)00428-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1525001623004288%3Fshowall%3Dtrue.

When I first read about this – https://www.wired.com/story/pill-kills-ticks-lyme-disease-babesiosis-anaplasmosis/ – I immediately thought that I wouldn’t take anything that would kill ticks upon feeding. It would be similar to what dogs can be given apparently. They want the treatment to kill an attached tick within 24 hours of attaching and starting to feed as that is “generally” how long it takes a tick to transmit the Lyme bacteria. Unfortunately, things like Powassan virus can transmit in 15 minutes and less is known about how long it takes other things to be transmitted. So ick re putting something into you that can kill ticks upon a bite and what about the things that can be transmitted more quickly? Lyme can also occasionally be transmitted more quickly. What then?

I’m not a doctor, researcher, etc., yet I have many, many questions. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can provide input regarding the vaccines under development.

If I read everything correctly, none of the above will have a 100% guarantee that a tick bite will not result in the transmission of tick-borne diseases. Therefore, as always, prevention will be key. We need to learn to live with ticks by undertaking daily preventative measures. It’s a year-round issue in many parts of the world now, including in Nova Scotia. We can’t continue to put our head in the sand and say that it’s no big deal. It can be. It has been for many.

PLEASE take the issue seriously. Learn about the different tick-borne diseases. Educate yourself regarding signs and symptoms. Prevention is key!