An anti COVID-19 vaccine is a vaccine capable of inducing acquired immunity against COVID-19 caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The discovery and development of these vaccines have become the goals of a vast scientific worldwide endeavor.
Different technologies have been tested and they range from the most traditional to the most innovative ones. There are four main types of vaccines in the OMS list.
Types of vaccines
As of January 2021, 9 vaccines were authorized by at least one national regulatory authority for public use: 2 RNA vaccines (the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – the first one approved for regular use – and the Moderna vaccine), 3 conventional inactivated vaccines (Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV, Bharat Biotech’s BBV152 and Sinovac’s CoronaVac), 2 viral vector vaccines (Sputnik V from the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) and a peptide vaccine (EpiVacCorona).
As of February 12 2021, over 165 million single doses had been administered worldwide, with Israel, followed by the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom as the country with multiple single doses administered relative to the population.
RNA VACCINES: they act through the inoculation of mRNA fragments into human cells, which are induced to produce antigens of pathogenic organisms that then stimulate an immune response.
INACTIVATED VACCINES: they are obtained by killing pathogens to make it impossible for them to replicate and carry out protein synthesis.
VIRAL VECTOR VACCINES: they are obtained by taking the genome of an adenovirus and modifying it by inserting a gene of the virus against which it is necessary to have antibodies. The adenovirus is then injected. In this way, when the adenovirus carries out its cycle it will also produce the protein of the other virus and antibodies will be built.
PEPTIDIC VACCINES: they are performed by directly injecting the proteins of the virus.
The development of anti-covid vaccines
In December 2019 a coronavirus was isolated and its genetic sequence was published and the development of the COVID-19 vaccine was accelerated thanks to unprecedented collaboration in the international pharmaceutical industry and between governments. By June 2020, tens of billions of dollars had already been invested by companies, governments, international health organizations and university research groups to develop dozens of vaccine candidates and prepare for global vaccination programs to immunize against COVID-19 infection. The urgency to create a COVID-19 vaccine has led to shortening the standard vaccine development timeline. This process typically conducted sequentially over the years.
