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Transplant pioneer, Peter Medawar, once said that a virus is ‘simply a piece of bad news wrapped in protein’. One could opine then, that the new COVID-19 vaccines are ‘Bits of corona viral proteins in gift wrapping.’ For, most of the COVID-19 vaccines are based on the principle that pre-exposure of the vaccinee's host immune system to the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, the first part of the viral anatomy that touches the vulnerable host cells, will elicit an effective antibody response to curb potential future infections. COVID-19 vaccines come in many sizes and shapes, and clearly, a return to normal, post-COVID dental practice entails protecting all members of the dental team with an appropriate vaccine, as and when available. We provide a thumbnail sketch of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in the offing, which we hope will be helpful for decision-making for choice of vaccine. The commentary ends with a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on dentistry, in general.
Article
The genetic sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) was published approximately a year ago in January 2020, triggering an intense global competition to develop a vaccine against the lethal infection it causes, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccine developers the world over are currently using next-generation vaccine platforms and novel paradigms to accelerate their production. Some of these, such as the mRNA vaccines, have been highly successful, reaching the arms of millions of recipients, at the time of writing. Indeed, the first COVID-19 vaccine, which entered the first human, clinical (Phase I) trials in March 2020, was approved in the US for emergency use in December 2020. This unprecedented rapidity of conducting vaccine trials, and approval by authorities, is a singular tribute to new technology as well as human ingenuity in the face of adversity.
Astonishingly, there are 233 vaccine candidates (61 in clinical appraisal and 172 in preclinical development phase) in development for COVID-19, a number of which, are already approved for emergency use in various jurisdictions.1 A number of other vaccines in the pipeline should see the light of day in 2021 once they complete their, final (Phase II/III) human trials, and their proven safety and efficacy approved by the regulatory authorities. The account below is a sketch of the ideal properties essential for a vaccine, and the major COVID-19 vaccine platforms (highly simplified) used for their production.
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