The patients, all 65 or older, experienced cardiac or neurologic events, according to the agency’s website. In clinical trials, less than 10% of people vaccinated with Ixchiq had adverse reactions, including tenderness, headache, fatigue, myalgia, arthralgia, fever and nausea.
The vaccine, approved in November 2023, is recommended for adults traveling somewhere with a chikungunya outbreak. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease that causes fever and joint pain. Most patients recover after about a week, and it rarely results in death, according to the CDC.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will discuss the five hospitalizations at an upcoming meeting. The committee was scheduled to convene Feb. 26-28, but the meeting was postponed indefinitely.
