Stony Brook Doctors Tout Promising Pfizer Lyme Disease Vaccine for Long Island

Dr. Andrew Handel has watched children arrive at Stony Brook Children's Hospital with Lyme meningitis and Lyme arthritis severe enough to require surgery. Suffolk County recorded 3,152 Lyme disease cases in 2024, the highest count of any county in New York State, and Handel was direct about what a new vaccine from Pfizer and Valneva could mean for Long Island families: "I think considering how large a problem Lyme disease is in New York, having a safe and effective vaccine in our toolbox would be wonderful."

Pfizer and French pharmaceutical company Valneva announced plans to seek federal approval for the vaccine, known as VLA15, after a Phase 3 randomized clinical trial of 9,400 participants aged 5 and up showed efficacy of at least 73 percent. No licensed Lyme disease vaccine for humans currently exists. Stony Brook University Hospital participated in the early phases of the clinical trial. The regimen used in the trial calls for three doses spaced over several months, followed by a booster shot a year later.

"We see patients with Lyme meningitis, where it's infecting the fluid around the brain, or Lyme arthritis, where they have severe swelling in the joints that can progress to the point where they need surgery," Handel said. "Avoiding tick bites is part of daily life here on Long Island. And even though New York is absolutely a leader in Lyme disease public health awareness and educational outreach, taking preventative measures is not always enough to avoid these infections."

Suffolk's 3,152 cases in 2024 dwarfed Nassau County's 521, according to the New York State Department of Health. New York reported 21,632 Lyme cases statewide that year, nearly a quarter of all cases nationally. The CDC reported more than 89,000 confirmed Lyme cases in the U.S. in 2023 and estimates the actual number of people diagnosed and treated could reach 476,000.

The last human Lyme vaccine, LYMErix, launched in 1998 and was pulled from the market a few years later following complaints of side effects and lawsuits. The FDA found no link between the vaccine and any reported injuries, but public confidence collapsed and demand dried up. Dr. Luis Marcos, an infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Medicine, said the appetite for VLA15 is already markedly different. "People are definitely interested in this vaccine, more than the flu, more than the COVID vaccine," he said. "And it's a different vaccine than the previous one."

Dr. Martin Backer of NYU Langone Long Island called the early safety data encouraging: "It seems to be a very well-tolerated and safe vaccine from what we know." Handel added a caveat, noting it may not be clear how protective the vaccine proves in practice until larger post-approval studies are completed or it reaches widespread use. Pfizer and Valneva also acknowledged the Phase 3 results did not fully meet their own benchmarks, even as they move toward a federal filing.

An increasing deer population has pushed ticks deeper into suburban Suffolk neighborhoods. Nancy Huber, a North Babylon resident who walks with a group at Eisenhower Park, said the group monitors tick alerts year-round. "I get a lotta notifications not to do walks at certain times. They're even here in the winter, so you really gotta be prepared."

Handel framed the reach of the disease in terms that stretch well beyond the East End, where Lyme was once mostly concentrated. "It's a problem for everyone across large swaths of land," he said. "I don't think anyone views Lyme disease that way anymore.