Challenges and Issues of COVID‐19 Pandemic

Dear Colleagues,

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the greatest serious threat to human health in over a century, and has already had disastrous consequences for public health, the economy, and social endeavours. Due to the lack of available antiviral medications and vaccinations, there is no visible end in sight. The SARS-CoV-2 virus evolved from an animal reservoir in late 2019 and is now linked to the deadliest human epidemic since 1918's "Spanish flu". In virology, understanding of the virus is increasing, and research on multiple possible vaccines based on spike neutralisation utilising various methodologies (mRNA, recombinant adenovirus, inactivated virus, etc.) is underway.

COVID-19 vaccine candidates with excellent safety and effectiveness profiles have emerged as a result of international efforts to create a vaccine. In addition, some medications have recently shown specific efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 patients who are critically unwell, and some vaccine candidates have showed promising primary findings in phase III clinical studies. However, we have not yet vanquished the disease, and vaccine and treatment research and development should continue at a breakneck pace.

Therefore, it is time to welcome contributions to this Special Issue of Vaccines, “Challenges and Issues of COVID‐19 Pandemic”. The aim is to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of SARS-CoV-2 research, challenges accompanied with development on vaccines and therapeutics to expand our understanding of coronaviruses and work together to find a solution to the pandemic.

This Special Issue is open to all researchers invested in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, and welcomes original articles and reviews in the field of SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis, epidemiology and evolution, virus–host interactions, vaccine development, antivirals, neutralizing antibodies, innate and adaptive immune responses, reverse genetics approaches, recombinant viruses, reporter-expressing viruses, animal models of viral infection, virus pathobiology, and COVID-19 disease. We anticipate that this Special Issue will provide new insights into the biology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease, allowing researchers to work together to develop effective countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Dr. Muhammad Munir
Dr. Mohammed Rohaim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-19
• viral infection
• viral pathogenesis
• prophylactics
• vaccines therapeutics
• antivirals
• neutralizing antibodies
• animal models