The COVID-19 vaccine provides acquired immunity against Coronavirus infection from different variants. It protects from the virus that causes the severe acute respiratory syndrome, Coronavirus 2.
Vaccines Against Coronavirus Must Be Developed Universally
There already existed an established body of knowledge about the structure and function of coronaviruses responsible for diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome before the COVID19 pandemic. Early in 2020, vaccine platforms were developed with the help of this knowledge.
Based on official reports from national public health agencies, COVID19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide 8.59 billion times as of December 16, 2021. In December 2020, countries will have pre-ordered more than 10 billion doses of vaccine, with the high-income countries constituting about half of the dose purchases.
Based on what is known about ecological reality, there is growing evidence that Coronaviruses are likely to continue infecting bats and other animal reservoirs and are capable of causing a pandemic threat to humans.
The scientific community and medical community need to commit to three specific objectives to control future coronavirus outbreaks: understanding the pathogenesis of coronavirus diseases in lab animals and humans; and developing long-lasting, broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines.
In a comment published in The Journal of Medicine, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) argues that conventional vaccines are ineffective in preventing allergies.
The authors call for international collaboration to sample coronaviruses from bats, wild animals, and farmed animals to better understand existing and emerging coronaviruses. Researchers say such studies could help predict outbreaks of illnesses caused by Coronaviruses.
At first, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were intended to prevent symptomatic, often serious illness. By the end of March, the global pharmaceutical industry announced commitments to address COVID19 that started with sharing SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence data through GISAID. It is widely recognized that COVID19 vaccines have significantly reduced the severity and deaths associated with the disease.
Phased distribution plans have been implemented in many countries that prioritize the elderly and those at high risk of complications and transmission, such as healthcare workers.
A carefully controlled human challenge trial, in which volunteers are exposed to coronaviruses, would enable a better understanding of coronavirus disease processes and lead to better vaccine design.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but it is not known whether and how they achieve permanent immunity, the NIAID article states. Viruses of unknown transmission and lethality, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, are expected to resurface intermittently for a long time.
Our work in Coronavirus vaccinology must therefore be greatly accelerated, they say. Authors identify several features of an ideal universal coronavirus vaccine that could provide communities and individuals of all ages with durable protection against most or all coronaviruses.
To reach this goal, a fundamental understanding of coronavirus protective immunity is required, including what approaches best elicit rapid responses (antibodies, for instance) and lasting immune “memory” responses that would defend against newly emerging coronaviruses.
COVID-19 is highly virulent, and there is a continuous threat of new Coronaviruses emerging. It is imperative to develop safe and broadly protective vaccines against these viruses as soon as possible. According to the authors, now is the time to overcome this challenge fully.
Vaccination against COVID-19 has been reported to be highly protective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death as of August 2021 in the United States. Unvaccinated people have a greater chance of becoming infected, requiring hospitalization, and dying than fully vaccinated people.
In another study, unvaccinated individuals had a six-fold higher chance of testing positive, a 37-fold higher chance of being hospitalized, and a 67-fold increased possibility of dying.
According to the CDC, there was a drop from 91% effectiveness against Alpha to 66% against Delta. As of late August 2021, the Delta variant accounted for 99 percent of U.S. cases. Experts found that non-vaccinated people were two to five times more likely to get severe illness and hospitalized than those who had been vaccinated.
