Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 10;6(9):e149187.
doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.149187.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: a triumph of science and collaboration

Jonathan L Golob  1 , Njira Lugogo  2 , Adam S Lauring  1 , Anna S Lok  3
Affiliations
Review

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: a triumph of science and collaboration

Jonathan L Golob et al. JCI Insight. .

Abstract

Roughly 1 year after the first case of COVID-19 was identified and less than 1 year after the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccines with demonstrated safety and efficacy in phase III clinical trials are available. The most promising vaccines have _targeted the surface glycoprotein (S-protein) of SARS-CoV-2 and achieved an approximate 85%-95% reduction in the risk of symptomatic COVID-19, while retaining excellent safety profiles and modest side effects in the phase III clinical trials. The mRNA, replication-incompetent viral vector, and protein subunit vaccine technologies have all been successfully employed. Some novel SARS-CoV-2 variants evade but do not appear to fully overcome the potent immunity induced by these vaccines. Emerging real-world effectiveness data add evidence for protection from severe COVID-19. This is an impressive first demonstration of the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccine and vector vaccine platforms. The success of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development should be credited to open science, industry partnerships, harmonization of clinical trials, and the altruism of study participants. The manufacturing and distribution of the emergency use-authorized SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are ongoing challenges. What remains now is to ensure broad and equitable global vaccination against COVID-19.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: NL receives research support from AstraZeneca and Janssen for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials. A.S. Lok receives research support from _target RWE for studies on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatitis B, and primary biliary cholangitis.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. SARS-CoV-2 vaccine platforms.
A schematic representation of the major SARS-CoV-2 vaccine platforms under active development as of February 2021. Adenoviral vector vaccines refer to replication-incompetent adenoviral-based vectors. All candidate vaccines (aside from whole inactivated virus) _target the binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. Both mRNA and vector vaccines _target muscle cells at the site of injection. The muscle cells produce (portions of the) SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is in turn presented via MHC class I to antigen-presenting cells and cytotoxic T cells. In contrast, protein subunit vaccines and inactivated viral vaccines are directly taken up by antigen-presenting cells. The antigen-presenting cells in turn present the spike protein antigen to T helper cells and B cells, resulting in an orchestrated humoral and cellular immune response against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, including the generation of memory T cells and B cells to respond to future exposures to SARS-CoV-2. Illustrated by Rachel Davidowitz.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Comparison of the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines as presented in the interim analyses of phase III clinical trials.
All results are based on cases that occurred at least 2 weeks after the final vaccine dose. CIs are calculated using the Clopper and Pearson method (51) and are not adjusted for differences in the underlying study populations. The left panel shows the estimated efficacy against the FDA-harmonized case definition for symptomatic COVID-19 (any COVID-19 symptoms and a confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection via RT-PCR testing). The right panel shows the estimated efficacy against severe/critical COVID-19. The wide CIs for some of the vaccines are due to the small number of severe cases at the time of interim analysis. Illustrated by Rachel Davidowitz.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Frequency of common adverse events after vaccination, as reported in the interim analyses of the phase III trials.
All events are solicited adverse events, aside from chills and joint pain for Ad26.COV2.S, which were nonsolicited. APAP, acetaminophen. Illustrated by Rachel Davidowitz.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Carfì A, et al. Persistent symptoms in patients after acute COVID-19. JAMA. 2020;324(6):603–605. - PMC - PubMed
    1. doi: 10.7326/m20-5661. Chopra V, et al. Sixty-day outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 [published online November 11, 2020]. Ann Intern Med . - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Draft landscape and tracker of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-cand... Updated April 2, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021.
    1. Gudbjartsson DF, et al. Spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the Icelandic population. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(24):2302–2315. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2006100. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stephens DS, McElrath MJ. COVID-19 and the path to immunity. JAMA. 2020;324(13):1279–1281. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.16656. - DOI - PubMed

Substances

  NODES
Association 1
INTERN 3
twitter 2