Recent developments in SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines: A systematic review of the current studies

Abstract

Designing and manufacturing efficient vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a major objective. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the most important vaccines under construction worldwide, their efficiencies and clinical results in healthy individuals and in those with specific underlying diseases. We conducted a comprehensive search in PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Sciences by 1 December 2021 to identify published research studies. The inclusion criteria were publications that evaluated the immune responses and safety of COVID‐19 vaccines in healthy individuals and in those with pre‐existing diseases. We also searched the VAERS database to estimate the incidence of adverse events of special interest (AESI) post COVID‐19 vaccination. Almost all investigated vaccines were well tolerated and developed good levels of both humoural and cellular responses. A protective and efficient humoural immune response develops after the second or third dose of vaccine and a longer interval (about 28 days) between the first and second injections of vaccine could induce higher antibody responses. The vaccines were less immunogenic in immunocompromised patients, particularly those with haematological malignancies. In addition, we found that venous and arterial thrombotic events, Bell's palsy, and myocarditis/pericarditis were the most common AESI. The results showed the potency of the SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines to protect subjects against disease. The provision of further effective and safe vaccines is necessary in order to reach a high coverage of immunisation programs across the globe and to provide protection against infection itself.

Bell’s Palsy Following SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Three studies (45-47) met the inclusion criteria; however, they used the same patient databases, hence, overlapping considerably with the included studies from Hong Kong. Lastly, four overlapping studies reported the data retrieved from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database, of which one (48) was included with the highest quality score, and the remainder were excluded (29, 49, 50). Similarly, three overlapping studies used the data obtained from the WHO VigiBase database, two of which were excluded (51, 52).…”

Publication trends of research on COVID-19 and host immune response: A bibliometric analysis

“…In vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, vaccine efficacy is assessed by three primary endpoints, including the proportion of recorded infections, symptomatic infections, and severely hospitalized cases ( 43 ). Meanwhile, the titers of RBD-specific IgG, neutralizing antibodies, and T cytokine levels (especially the IFN-γ levels) are adopted as the indicators to determine whether the vaccine induced an effective humoral and cellular immune response in the host ( 44 ). The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines has been evaluated in healthy adults ( 45 ), immunocompromised patients ( 46 ), adolescents and children ( 47 , 48 ), pregnant women ( 49 ), and cancer patients ( 50 ).…”

Management of Bell’s Palsy with Phototherapy

“…Besides the infection of HSV-1, an increased incidence rate has been noticed during the coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Several recent studies have discussed the potential causal relationship between vaccination or COVID-19 infection with BP [11][12][13].…”

“…Along with a higher risk of developing BP with COVID-19 infection, BP has also been recognized as a common adverse event after COVID-19 vaccination. A systematic review recognized BP as one of the most common adverse events after mRNA and viral vector-based immunization [13]. In addition, a study in Hong Kong reported a significantly increased risk of Bell's palsy following the vaccination of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine but not the mRNA vaccine [22].…”