Last week, I wrote about Pfizer’s Lyme vaccine candidate and the questions many in the Lyme community still have about it.

This week, CNN published an article on the same topic which included important comments from LymeDisease.org CEO Lorraine Johnson that deserve attention.

Although the full CNN piece is behind a paywall, we can share the key points from Lorraine’s interview.

Lingering concerns from the LYMErix era

Lorraine noted that many patients still remember the rollout — and withdrawal — of LYMErix more than two decades ago.

“The Lyme community had a sour taste in their mouth from the experience with LYMErix,” she said, while acknowledging that it wasn’t proved that the vaccine caused arthritis.

She emphasized that, regardless of the scientific debate, the patient experience at the time was real and deeply felt.

“There were enough patients who became profoundly ill, and physicians were raising the alarm. It was taken as a very, very serious threat by the Lyme community.”

A Lyme‑only vaccine leaves gaps

Lorraine also pointed out a limitation that often gets lost in the headlines: Pfizer’s vaccine protects only against Lyme disease — not the many other infections carried by the same ticks.

“Why that matters is, a patient could get a vaccine that covers Lyme and then have a false sense of complacency that they’re covered if they get a tick bite, and they’re not covered because they’ve got the potential for these other tick-borne infections.”

These include Powassan virus, babesiosis, and others that are becoming increasingly common.

The community wants broader solutions

Lorraine told CNN that patients are looking for approaches that go beyond a single‑pathogen vaccine.

“The community has been behind broader approaches. You really want to have the ticks falling off of you.”

CNN also highlighted several emerging strategies researchers are exploring. These include a pill designed to kill ticks after they bite, and wildlife‑targeted vaccines aimed at reducing transmission in the environment. These are still in early‑stage development, but they reflect the broader thinking many patients support.

Where this leaves us

We’ll keep closely following developments about the Pfizer Lyme vaccine. But as Lorraine’s comments underscore, the Lyme community’s concerns aren’t abstract. They’re rooted in lived experience, past harms, and the reality that tick‑borne diseases rarely come one at a time.

We’ll continue to advocate for solutions that reflect the full complexity of tick‑borne illness and the needs of the people most affected.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease and of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.