Real-Word Effectiveness of Global COVID-19 Vaccines Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundCurrently, promoted vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 are being given out globally. However, the occurrence of numerous COVID-19 variants has hindered the goal of rapid mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic by effective mass vaccinations. The real-word effectiveness of the current vaccines against COVID-19 variants has not been assessed by published reviews. Therefore, our study evaluated the overall effectiveness of current vaccines and the differences between the various vaccines and variants.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, medRxiv, bioRxiv, and arXiv were searched to screen the eligible studies. The Newcastle–Ottawa scale and the Egger test were applied to estimate the quality of the literature and any publication bias, respectively. The pooled incident rates of different variants after vaccination were estimated by single-arm analysis. Meanwhile, the pooled efficacies of various vaccines against variants were evaluated by two-arm analysis using odds ratios (ORs) and vaccine effectiveness (VE).ResultsA total of 6,118 studies were identified initially and 44 articles were included. We found that the overall incidence of variants post first/second vaccine were 0.07 and 0.03, respectively. The VE of the incidence of variants post first vaccine between the vaccine and the placebo or unvaccinated population was 40% and post second vaccine was 96%, respectively. The sub-single-arm analysis showed a low prevalence rate of COVID-19 variants after specific vaccination with the pooled incidence below 0.10 in most subgroups. Meanwhile, the sub-two-arm analysis indicated that most current vaccines had a good or moderate preventive effect on certain variants considering that the VE in these subgroups was between 66 and 95%, which was broadly in line with the results of the sub-single-arm analysis.ConclusionOur meta-analysis shows that the current vaccines that are used globally could prevent COVID-19 infection and restrict the spread of variants to a great extent. We would also support maximizing vaccine uptake with two doses, as the effectiveness of which was more marked compared with one dose. Although the mRNA vaccine was the most effective against variants according to our study, specific vaccines should be taken into account based on the local dominant prevalence of variants.

Booster immunization with Ad26.COV2.S or Omicron adapted vaccine enhanced immune responses and efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in non-human primates

“…However, it is currently unknown if this improvement is limited to the vaccine-matched Omicron VOC. Our data support real-world evidence studies on vaccine effectiveness, 30,59,60 that demonstrated that boosting with the original Wuhan S protein based vaccines continues to provide robust protection from severe COVID-19 disease and hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2 VOC infections.…”

Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of developing long-COVID and on existing long-COVID symptoms: A systematic review

“… 1 Nonetheless, vaccines seem unable to fully reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOCs). 2 …”

“…1 Nonetheless, vaccines seem unable to fully reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOCs). 2 Following the COVID-19 outbreak, leading to hundreds of millions of acute cases and six million deaths, healthcare professionals are in front of another crisis brought about by development and/or persistence of symptoms after the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection (typically after 3 months), a condition conventionally called long-COVID 3 or post-COVID. 4 More than 100 symptoms can appear after a SARS-CoV-2 acute infection, affecting multiple systems, e.g., cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, or neurological.…”

Ongoing Efforts to Improve Antimicrobial Utilization in Hospitals among African Countries and Implications for the Future

“…We will be pressing for this in the future along with measures to increase COVID-19 vaccine equity. African Governments and others need to ensure that healthcare professionals (HCPs) can readily administer COVID-19 vaccines to reduce future hospitalisations [ 103 , 104 ]. Increasing vaccinations will reduce infection rates and subsequent consequences including hospitalisations, thereby reducing unnecessary prescribing of antimicrobials and associated AMR [ 96 , 97 , 98 , 105 , 106 ].…”