Abstract
COVID-19 has affected millions of people and put an unparalleled burden on healthcare systems as well as economies throughout the world. Currently, there is no decisive therapy for COVID-19 or related complications. The only hope to mitigate this pandemic is through vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccines are being developed rapidly, compared to traditional vaccines, and are being approved via Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) worldwide. So far, there are 232 vaccine candidates. One hundred and seventy-two are in preclinical development and 60 in clinical development, of which 9 are approved under EUA by different countries. This includes the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Canada, Russia, China, and India. Distributing vaccination to all, with a safe and efficacious vaccine is the leading priority for all nations to combat this COVID-19 pandemic. However, the current accelerated process of COVID-19 vaccine development and EUA has many unanswered questions. In addition, the change in strain of SARS-CoV-2 in UK and South Africa, and its increasing spread across the world have raised more challenges, both for the vaccine developers as well as the governments across the world. In this review, we have discussed the different type of vaccines with examples of COVID-19 vaccines, their rapid development compared to the traditional vaccine, associated challenges, and future prospects.
Highlights
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCov-2) infections and the resulting diseases, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have spread to millions of people worldwide
Multiple vaccine candidates are under development but safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 are urgently needed to combat escalating cases and deaths worldwide
Similar Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) processes were adapted by several countries including, United States, Canada, Russia, China, and India to approve different COVID19 vaccine candidates (CVCs) and the list is growing
Summary
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCov-2) infections and the resulting diseases, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have spread to millions of people worldwide. Multiple vaccine candidates are under development but safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 are urgently needed to combat escalating cases and deaths worldwide. These vaccine candidates need to be manufactured as soon as possible and made available to all countries and populations affected by the pandemic at an affordable price. On December 2, 2020, United Kingdom (UK) became the first country to approve the COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech via Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Similar EUA processes were adapted by several countries including, United States, Canada, Russia, China, and India to approve different COVID19 vaccine candidates (CVCs) and the list is growing. How are these vaccines developed so rapidly? Are these vaccines safe and efficacious? How long the efficacy will last? What are potential threats? What are challenges? Are they effective against changing strains of virus? In this review, we will discuss and emphasize the vaccines approved via EUA and the ones that have entered Phase III clinical trials and have demonstrated the potential to be approved
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