This question will be resolved alongside the corresponding market on Polymarket: https://polymarket.com/event/hantavirus-vaccine-in-2026
Resolution criteria
This market will resolve to "Yes" if any vaccine intended for humans and inoculating against Hantavirus (including Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) or Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS)) receives full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between market creation and December 31, 2026, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to "No". The primary resolution source for this market will be official information from the FDA, including its list of approved vaccines (https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/vaccines-licensed-use-united-states), however a consensus of credible reporting may also be used.
Background
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a severe respiratory disease primarily found in the Americas, while Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS) is found more commonly in Europe and Asia.
Currently, there are no FDA-approved vaccines for any Hantavirus infection in humans. Treatment is primarily supportive, as there is no specific antiviral therapy available for Hantavirus infections. Research into vaccine candidates has been ongoing for years, but none have reached the stage of widespread commercial licensure in the United States.
People are also trading
There appears to be one with phaze 1 (completed?) looking for funding. I would imagine huge amounts of funding might have been harder to get before this became an issue with a heightened public profile. Still don't see this becoming a cash cow for anyone, unless there is a fad to get vaccinated among billionaires or something.
I know you're copying Polymarket, but the focus on FDA is pretty weird: it only makes sense assuming there's a pandemic. If not, we could see an increased interest in hantavirus vaccines, but I'd expect them to be initially tested and approved in the regions where the various hantaviruses are naturally occurring (especially Argentina and Chile, home to the Andes virus as it is the cause of the MV Hondius outbreak). The US has very few domestic cases of their local hantaviruses.
Similarly to how hantavax is approved in China (which has high loads of hantavirus infections) but there's little interest in seeking approval elsewhere as other countries don't have the same load of its target hantaviruses (Hantaan virus, Seoul virus)
@AIBear I agree the resolution criteria is funky... Polymarket seems to miss the mark with this sorta stuff surprisingly often. Put this market up primarily because seeing the discrepancy on here vs. PM is pretty interesting to track