A COVID-19 Vaccine: Big Strides Come with Big Challenges
SAMRC Extramural Unit for Stem Cell Research and Therapy, Department of Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Vaccines 2021, 9(1), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010039
Received: 16 November 2020
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Revised: 2 January 2021
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Accepted: 5 January 2021
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Published: 11 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Vaccine Development)
As of 8 January 2021, there were 86,749,940 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 1,890,342 COVID-19-related deaths worldwide, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). In order to address the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting transmission, an intense global effort is underway to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. The development of a safe and effective vaccine usually requires several years of pre-clinical and clinical stages of evaluation and requires strict regulatory approvals before it can be manufactured in bulk and distributed. Since the global impact of COVID-19 is unprecedented in the modern era, the development and testing of a new vaccine are being expedited. Given the high-level of attrition during vaccine development, simultaneous testing of multiple candidates increases the probability of finding one that is effective. Over 200 vaccines are currently in development, with over 60 candidate vaccines being tested in clinical trials. These make use of various platforms and are at different stages of development. This review discusses the different phases of vaccine development and the various platforms in use for candidate COVID-19 vaccines, including their progress to date. The potential challenges once a vaccine becomes available are also addressed.
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Keywords:
COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; vaccine; vaccine development; vaccine platforms; immune response
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mellet, J.; Pepper, M.S. A COVID-19 Vaccine: Big Strides Come with Big Challenges. Vaccines 2021, 9, 39. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010039
AMA Style
Mellet J, Pepper MS. A COVID-19 Vaccine: Big Strides Come with Big Challenges. Vaccines. 2021; 9(1):39. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010039
Chicago/Turabian StyleMellet, Juanita, and Michael S. Pepper. 2021. "A COVID-19 Vaccine: Big Strides Come with Big Challenges" Vaccines 9, no. 1: 39. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010039
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