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Review
. 2023 Jun 30;11(7):1181.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11071181.

The End or a New Era of Development of SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Genetic Variants Responsible for Severe COVID-19 and Clinical Efficacy of the Most Commonly Used Vaccines in Clinical Practice

Dimitrina Miteva  1 , Meglena Kitanova  1 , Hristiana Batselova  2 , Snezhina Lazova  3   4 , Lyubomir Chervenkov  5 , Monika Peshevska-Sekulovska  6   7 , Metodija Sekulovski  7   8 , Milena Gulinac  9 , Georgi V Vasilev  10 , Luchesar Tomov  11 , Tsvetelina Velikova  7
Affiliations
Review

The End or a New Era of Development of SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Genetic Variants Responsible for Severe COVID-19 and Clinical Efficacy of the Most Commonly Used Vaccines in Clinical Practice

Dimitrina Miteva et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Although the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global health emergency, the disease is still a global threat. To be able to manage such pandemics in the future, it is necessary to develop proper strategies and opportunities to protect human life. The data on the SARS-CoV-2 virus must be continuously analyzed, and the possibilities of mutation and the emergence of new, more infectious variants must be anticipated, as well as the options of using different preventive and therapeutic techniques. This is because the fast development of severe acute coronavirus 2 syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern have posed a significant problem for COVID-19 pandemic control using the presently available vaccinations. This review summarizes data on the SARS-CoV-2 variants that are responsible for severe COVID-19 and the clinical efficacy of the most commonly used vaccines in clinical practice. The consequences after the disease (long COVID or post-COVID conditions) continue to be the subject of studies and research, and affect social and economic life worldwide.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 variants; effectiveness; efficacy; safety; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 genome organization: Spike protein (S), membrane protein (M), nucleocaspid protein (N), and envelope protein (E). The genome includes open reading frames (ORFs), 16 non-structural proteins (nsp1–16) encoded by ORF1a and ORF1b, and the accessory proteins among the structural genes. S gene encodes NTD (N-terminal domain), RBD (receptor-binding domain), SD1 (subdomain 1), SD2 (subdomain 2), FL (fusion loop), HR1 (heptad repeat 1), HR2 (heptad repeat 2), and TM (transmembrane domain). Cleavage of the S1/S2 and S2′ site is shown (modified by [26]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine effectiveness against severe disease, hospitalization, and mortality of the most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines in clinical practice. The results shown in the chart give the range of effectiveness against Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 variants according to data from various studies/trials conducted in 2021–2022 (NR—Not reported, VOC: variants of concern).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Vaccine effectiveness against infection of the most commonly used corona-virus disease 2019 vaccines against infection of SARS-CoV-2. Data in chart showed the range of effectiveness of different vaccines in different studies conducted in the period of 2021–2022.
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