Yes, the Lyme disease vaccine candidate currently in development showed approximately 73% efficacy in Phase 3 trials. That’s enough to reduce your risk, but not enough to eliminate it.
If you've been following the news about the Pfizer and Valneva Lyme vaccine and wondering whether it means you can stop worrying about ticks, we have good news and bad news for you. Because, as with all medical stories, the answer is a little more complex than a headline can show.
It’s reasonable to be both hopeful and cautious here. The vaccine, called LB6V, targets the outer surface protein of the Borrelia bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Phase 3 trial results announced in March 2026 showed it prevented Lyme disease about 73% of the time. That’s a great result for a vaccine, and more effective than the typical flu shot—which saves thousands of lives every year!
But the other 27 people out of 100 could still catch Lyme disease. There’s also the fact that the vaccine requires multiple doses plus seasonal boosters. And there’s still the need to seek FDA approval, which could take some time. Even under the most optimistic scenario, widespread access is still some distance away.
The other big caveat is that it is a Lyme disease vaccine. It’s not a vaccine for anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Powassan virus. Those are all diseases present in the Hamptons area and that are carried by ticks. A vaccinated person bitten by a tick carrying anaplasmosis would have zero vaccine-derived protection against that infection.
Lastly, the vaccine doesn’t prevent tick bites. It won’t keep ticks out of your yard. It won’t keep them off your kids or pets. It’ll simply reduce the odds of Lyme disease resulting from a tick bite. That’s a huge benefit, to be clear, but it won’t solve all problems that ticks cause. Daily tick checks, proper clothing in high-risk areas, and following the 6 C's of tick control are your best bet for keeping ticks in check.
If you’re a homeowner in the Hamptons and you want to reduce tick encounters at the source, Mosquito Squad of the Hamptons can help. Tick control treatments are applied to the shaded, high-risk zones across your property on a recurring schedule. That means you can expect fewer ticks in your yard mean fewer bites. And that’s protection no vaccine can replace.
