Programmatic considerations and evidence gaps for chikungunya vaccine introduction in countries at risk of chikungunya outbreaks: Stakeholder analysis.

• Main Authors: Megan Auzenbergs (Author), Clara Maure (Author), Hyolim Kang (Author), Andrew Clark (Author), Oliver Brady (Author), Sushant Sahastrabuddhe (Author), Kaja Abbas (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2024-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1935-2727; 1935-2735; 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012075
• Keywords: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 18, Iss 4, p e0012075 (2024)

Chikungunya can have longstanding effects on health and quality of life. Alongside the recent approval of the world's first chikungunya vaccine by the US Food and Drug Administration in November 2023 and with new chikungunya vaccines in the pipeline, it is important to understand the perspectives of stakeholders before vaccine rollout. Our study aim is to identify key programmatic considerations and gaps in Evidence-to-Recommendation criteria for chikungunya vaccine introduction. We used purposive and snowball sampling to identify global, national, and subnational stakeholders from outbreak prone areas, including Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted and analysed using qualitative descriptive methods. We found that perspectives varied between tiers of stakeholders and geographies. Unknown disease burden, diagnostics, non-specific disease surveillance, undefined target populations for vaccination, and low disease prioritisation were critical challenges identified by stakeholders that need to be addressed to facilitate rolling out a chikungunya vaccine. Future investments should address these challenges to generate useful evidence for decision-making on new chikungunya vaccine introduction.