COVID-19 vaccine update: vaccine effectiveness, SARS-CoV-2 variants, boosters, adverse effects, and immune correlates of protection

Wei-Yu Chi; Yen-Der Li; Hsin-Che Huang; Timothy En Haw Chan; Sih-Yao Chow; Jun-Han Su; Louise Ferrall; Chien-Fu Hung; T-C Wu

doi:10.1186/s12929-022-00853-8

COVID-19 vaccine update: vaccine effectiveness, SARS-CoV-2 variants, boosters, adverse effects, and immune correlates of protection

J Biomed Sci. 2022 Oct 15;29(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s12929-022-00853-8.

Authors

Wei-Yu Chi^#¹, Yen-Der Li^#², Hsin-Che Huang^#³, Timothy En Haw Chan^#^{4

5

6}, Sih-Yao Chow⁷, Jun-Han Su², Louise Ferrall⁸, Chien-Fu Hung^{8

9

10}, T-C Wu^{11

12

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
² Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ International Max Planck Research School for Immunobiology, Epigenetics and Metabolism (IMPRS-IEM), Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Urology, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁶ Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁷ Downstream Process Science, EirGenix Inc., Zhubei, Hsinchu, Taiwan R.O.C.
⁸ Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁹ Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹¹ Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. wutc@jhmi.edu.
¹² Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. wutc@jhmi.edu.
¹³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. wutc@jhmi.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. wutc@jhmi.edu.
¹⁵ The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, CRB II Room 309, 1550 Orleans St, MD, 21231, Baltimore, USA. wutc@jhmi.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been the most severe public health challenge in this century. Two years after its emergence, the rapid development and deployment of effective COVID-19 vaccines have successfully controlled this pandemic and greatly reduced the risk of severe illness and death associated with COVID-19. However, due to its ability to rapidly evolve, the SARS-CoV-2 virus may never be eradicated, and there are many important new topics to work on if we need to live with this virus for a long time. To this end, we hope to provide essential knowledge for researchers who work on the improvement of future COVID-19 vaccines. In this review, we provided an up-to-date summary for current COVID-19 vaccines, discussed the biological basis and clinical impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants and subvariants, and analyzed the effectiveness of various vaccine booster regimens against different SARS-CoV-2 strains. Additionally, we reviewed potential mechanisms of vaccine-induced severe adverse events, summarized current studies regarding immune correlates of protection, and finally, discussed the development of next-generation vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; Immunity; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccine; Variant.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines / adverse effects
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
Vaccine Efficacy
Viral Vaccines*

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
Viral Vaccines

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Grants and funding

P50 CA098252/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States