Effectiveness and Efficacy of Vaccine on Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Virus and Post Vaccination Surveillance: A Narrative Review

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, since December 2019, is a major health problem and concern worldwide. The pandemic has impacted various fields, from the social to the development of health science and technology. The virus has been mutating and thus producing several new variants, rushing research in the field of molecular biology to develop rapidly to overcome the problems that occur. Vaccine clinical studies are developing promptly with the aim of obtaining vaccines that are effective in suppressing the spread of the virus; however, the development of viral mutations raises concerns about the decreasing effectiveness of the resulting vaccine, which also results in the need for more in-depth studies. There have been 330 vaccines developed, including 136 clinical developments and 194 pre-clinical developments. The SARS-CoV-2 variant continues to evolve today, and it poses a challenge in testing the effectiveness of existing vaccines. This is a narrative review describing the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, development of vaccine platforms, identification of concerning mutations and virus variants in various countries of the world, and real-world monitoring of post-vaccination effectiveness and surveillance.

Differences in incidence and fatality of COVID‐19 by SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant versus Delta variant in relation to vaccine coverage: A world‐wide review

“…Moreover, considering the fact that there existed an interim between vaccination injection and protecting efficacy, we extracted the vaccination data backward for 14 days based on the initial and end time points of the Delta period or Omicron period. 17 , 18 The average vaccination coverages during each period were calculated by arithmetic mean. The type of vaccines was not included since the majority of countries have acquired vaccination strategies with kinds of vaccines distributed, besides the claimed similar efficacy of various SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines in preventing severe illness or death.…”

Estimation of Real-World Vaccination Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines against Delta and Omicron Variants in Japan

“…One of the key metrics used to express the waning immunity of vaccination is the individual effectiveness of vaccination (IEV) [ 10 ], which is also needed for vaccination planning [ 11 ] as well as the projection of new DPCs [ 12 ]. Substantial efforts were made to derive this metric [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. However, investigations of IEV for the omicron variant are still limited [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Evaluation of anti-spike glycoprotein antibody and neutralizing antibody response of different vaccine platforms. A protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial studies

“…Various vaccine platforms have been developed to increase the resistance to the SARS-CoV2 virus and reduce hospitalization and mortality rates (25)(26)(27). Given the critical need for pandemic control, efforts have been made to formulate high-performance vaccines with the maximum effective immune response and minimal side effects (28,29).…”