With input from Dr Monica Vasudev

1274:   COVID-19 Vaccines

[Source: Medscape; Reproduced for educational purposes]

1. The genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was published on January 11, 2020.
2. As of December 17, 2020, The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Trackerlisted 63 vaccines in human trials, with at least 85 preclinical vaccines under investigation in animals. 
3. Several antiviral medications and immunotherapies are also under investigationfor COVID-19.
4. On December 28, 2020, the NIH announced that the fifth phase 3 trial for COVID-19 vaccines in the United States has started enrolment of adult volunteers. Results from the phase 1 clinical trial for the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine were published online December 10, 2020 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
5. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices published guidelines on the ethical principles for the initial allocation for the vaccine.  According to recommendations of the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the first 2 groups to get the vaccines will include healthcare workers (1a) and residents of long-term care facilities (1b).  Young children would likely be assigned lower priority for vaccines as young adults  are the main drivers of transmission in the United States.
6. The next 2 priority groups will be frontline essential workers and adults 75 years of age and older (1c); and adults 65-74 years, individuals 16-64 years with high-risk medical conditions, and essential workers not included in Phase 1b (1d).
7. Other variables that heighten the complexity of distribution include storage requirements (such as, frozen vs refrigerated) and whether more than a single injection is required for optimal immunity. Several technological methods (eg, DNA, RNA, inactivated, viral vector, protein subunit) are available for vaccine development. Vaccine attributes (eg, number of doses, speed of development, scalability) are dependent on the type of technological method employed. 
8. Some methods have been used in the development of previous vaccines, while others are new. For instance, mRNA vaccines for influenza, rabies, and Zika virus have already been tested in animals. 

Table 1. Vaccine platform attributes

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA