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Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

I thought that there are approved human vaccines, but they were voluntarily removed due to economic reasons and lack of adoption.

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There was, withdrawn in 2002. Protection wanes so even if you were one of the few who got it then you have no protection today. There are a couple new vaccines in the works, one in phase 3 testing so hopefully we get something in a few years.

Yeah there's what looks like a solid candidate going through a variety of worldwide trials right now.[0]

Very hopeful for a meaningful means of prevention in the coming years.

[0]: https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...

How is this really different from the previous Lymerix? Aren't they both 3 shot series and OspA based?

It was withdrawn, but the approval was never revoked.

True, and I suppose the patent is expired by now so you could in theory start making it. Though the FDA has rules about how you can produce such things. Probably better for a company to risk/start a new vaccine which they can patent and thus get some benefit that way vs one out of patent. Also just because you can legally make it doesn't mean it is practical. It may require other things that are not longer made, or specific equipment that would be expensive to recreate. Still this is an opportunity for someone in India (where a lot of generic drugs are made already, though the country doesn't matter) if they want to.

I don't hike as much in areas where Lyme is common as I used to, but I'd still take a vaccine if I could. (I didn't know the vaccine existed in 2001 or I would have)

the current FDA has no chance of allowing novel new vaccines to move forward

It's a complicated story. There were (almost certainly overstated by some) side effects and it just wasn't a super-effective vaccine. Still IMO shouldn't have been take off the market. Hopefully one of the vaccines under development pan out because Lyme is a real problem in some areas and increasingly spreading north.

iirc the vaccines stopped the tick from successfully transferring the bacteria. it didn't make the body able to better combat it. (and if you read the article linked it explains that its not actually the killing of the spirochete that is the problem its the remains of it and how the host body responds to those remains.)

There are multiple human vaccines in the works at the moment, earliest might be available towards the end of 2027 as long as they're not defunded by the current administration

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