COVID-19 Vaccines, What do we know so Far? A Narrative Review

Abstract :

For more than a year, the world was paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t until the last few months that hope to a return of a quasi-normal way of living was starting to materialize. The era of the COVID-19 vaccines begun, and with it all sorts of concerns and complaints about their safety and efficacy. Large numbers of people believed the conspiracy theories about the new vaccines thus becoming reluctant and sometimes refused to take the new vaccines. Others justified their concern with the relatively short trial periods compared to previous vaccines that used to take years before adoption.

Multiple vaccines emerged around the same time, and thus the fight to conquer the market began. Pfizer-BioNTech, Vaxzervria, Moderna, Sputnik, Coronavac, Janssen, all were rapidly distributed to countries around the globe, in order to reduce the mortality rate and control the pandemic. To make things worse, new viral mutations started being detected and thus shed more doubt on the efficacy of these vaccines.

This review article summarizes the literature of these vaccines’ pathophysiology, mechanism of action, dosing and schedule, safety profile and lastly the documented side effects of each vaccine.

In conclusion, there is no certainty whether these vaccines will prevent infection and more importantly protect against forward transmission. It is sure that the immunity persists for several months, but the exact duration for every vaccine is yet to be determined. For the time being, safety precautions must still be continued; wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding crowded places must be applied.