COVID-19 vaccination

Abstract

In 1796 Edward Jenner performed the world’s first vaccination against smallpox. Since then, there have been many achievements in the field of vaccines including the recent development of the mRNA vaccines. The emergence of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 illness has created an urgent need for the development of safe and effective vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The aims of this study were to 1) to review the available safety and efficacy literature of COVID-19 vaccines from selected databases and present the data in a comprehensible format and 2) to review the characteristics of the COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized for use in the European Union or under rolling review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Fourteen studies were included for the review from literature search. The studies included mRNA vaccines, inactivated vaccines, chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine, recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein nanoparticle vaccine, protein subunit vaccine and recombinant adenovirus vaccine. The studies included adult participants both men and women ranging from the age of 16 and older. Various study group designs were used. Efficacy was measured in 11 studies via immunologic responses to vaccination including neutralizing antibodies against SARSCOV-2. Four studies measured the efficacy of the vaccines against COVID-19. Safety was commonly measured with local and systemic adverse reactions after vaccination. Adverse reactions commonly included pain and fever that were mild and transient. All the studies showed either immunologic response or efficacy against COVID-19 after vaccination. The 4 COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized for use in the European union are the Comirnaty from Pfizer and BioNTech, mRNA-1273 from Moderna, AZD1222 from AstraZeneca and Ad26.COV.S from Janssen. Three vaccines are under rolling review of the European Medicine Agency. These are the NVX-CoV2373 from Novavax CZ AS, CVnCoV from CureVac AG and the Sputnik V from Gamaleya. More studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines in special populations such as pregnant or breastfeeding women and children.