Vaccines for COVID-19 – Can we avoid living again in a ghost town?

Vacunas para COVID-19 - ¿Podemos evitar volver a vivir en un pueblo fantasma?

Over the last year, the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have caused considerable havoc on society (1). Indeed, this has been a chronicle of an announced zoonosis (2,3). Its impact has been even deeper in developing countries (4,5), such as Colombia (6,7,8). So far, up to March 9, 2021, the world has recorded 117.5 million cases of COVID-19, with 2.6 million deaths (2.22%). Colombia is included in the Top 20 countries with the highest number of cases (2.282.372) and the Top 20 deaths globally (60.676).

1. Dhama K, Khan S, Tiwari R, Sircar S, Bhat S, Malik YS, et al. Coronavirus Disease 2019-COVID-19. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2020; 33(4):e00028-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470320320926902
2. Mattar V S, González Tous M. Emergencia zoonótica por coronavirus: riesgo potencial para la salud pública en America Latina. Rev MVZ Cordoba. 2018; 23(3):6775-6777. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.1408
3. Mattar S, González Tous M. Coronavirus: Crónica de una zoonosis anunciada. Rev MVZ Cordoba. 2020;25(2):e2048. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.2048
4. Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Gallego V, Escalera-Antezana JP, Mendez CA, Zambrano LI, Franco-Paredes C, et al. COVID-19 in Latin America: The implications of the first confirmed case in Brazil. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020; 35:101613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101613
5. Cimerman S, Chebabo A, Cunha CAD, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Deep impact of COVID-19 in the healthcare of Latin America: the case of Brazil. Braz J Infect Dis. 2020; 24(2):93-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjid.2020.04.005
6. Diaz-Guio DA, Villamil-Gomez WE, Dajud L, Perez-Diaz CE, Bonilla-Aldana DK, Mondragon-Cardona A, et al. Will the Colombian intensive care units collapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020; 38:101746. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.tmaid.2020.101746
7. Mattar S, Martinez-Bravo C, Rivero R, Contreras H, Faccini-Martinez AA, Guzman-Teran C, et al. Epidemiological and viral features of a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in an area of the Colombian Caribbean. Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2020; 19:58. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12941-020-00397-5
8. Mattar S, Alvis-Guzman N, Garay E, Rivero R, Garcia A, Botero Y, et al. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Seroprevalence Among Adults in a Tropical City of the Caribbean Area, Colombia: Are We Much Closer to Herd Immunity Than Developed Countries? Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020; 7(12):ofaa550. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa550
9. Cardona-Ospina JA, Rojas-Gallardo DM, Garzon-Castano SC, Jimenez-Posada EV, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Phylodynamic analysis in the understanding of the current COVID-19 pandemic and its utility in vaccine and antiviral design and assessment. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021; 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2021.1880254
10. Patel SK, Pathak M, Tiwari R, Yatoo MI, Malik YS, Sah R, et al. A vaccine is not too far for COVID-19. J Infect Dev Ctries. 2020; 14(5):450-453. https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.12744
11. Rabaan AA, Al-Ahmed SH, Sah R, Al-Tawfiq JA, Al-Qaaneh AM, Al-Jamea LH, et al. Recent advances in vaccine and immunotherapy for COVID-19. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2020; 16(12):3011-3022. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2020.1825896
12. Baden LR, El Sahly HM, Essink B, Kotloff K, Frey S, Novak R, et al. Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2021; 384(5):403-416. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2035389
13. Dagan N, Barda N, Kepten E, Miron O, Perchik S, Katz MA, et al. BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine in a Nationwide Mass Vaccination Setting. N Engl J Med. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2101765
14. Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, Absalon J, Gurtman A, Lockhart S, et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020; 383(27):2603-15. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577
15. Fontanet A, Autran B, Lina B, Kieny MP, Karim SSA, Sridhar D. SARS-CoV-2 variants and ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet. 2021; 397(10278):P952-954. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00370-6
16. Schlagenhauf P, Patel D, Rodriguez-Morales A, Gautret P, Grobusch MP, Leder K. Variants, Vaccines and Vaccination passports: Challenges and Chances for Travel Medicine in 2021. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2021; 40:101996. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.tmaid.2021.101996