COVID-19 and vaccination: myths vs science

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Several vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been developed since the inception of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019, at unprecedented speed. However, these rapidly developed vaccines raised many questions related to the efficacy and safety of vaccines in different communities across the globe. Various hypotheses regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines were generated, and many of them have also been answered with scientific evidence. Still, there are many myths/misinformation related to COVID-19 and its vaccines, which create hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccination, and must be addressed critically to achieve success in the battle against the pandemic.

Area Covered

The development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines against COVID-19, their safety and efficacy, and myths/misinformation relating to COVID-19 and vaccines are presented.

Expert Opinion

In this pandemic, we have seen a global collaborative effort of researchers, governments, and industry, supported by billions of dollars in funding, have allowed the development of vaccines far more quickly than in the past. Vaccines go through rigorous testing, analysis, and evaluations in clinical settings prior to their approval, even if they are approved for emergency use. Despite the myths, vaccination represents an important strategy to get back to normality.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• myths about COVID-19
• vaccines for COVID-19
• human lessons
• vaccination

Article highlights

• The pandemic has caused devastating effects with over 592 million reported cases, almost 6.45 million deaths, and worldwide significant loss to the global economy.

• Myths are only myths, but what we do know is that the vast majority of the COVID-19 patients in hospital are the non-vaccinated individuals.

• Vaccines go through rigorous testing, analysis, and evaluation in clinical settings before their approval for public use, even if they are approved for emergency use.

• One cannot judge the vaccine based on the efficacy number, but it should be targeted to tame the virus and end the pandemic.

• Variant-specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and therapeutics are crucial for better COVID-19 management.

• Intranasal vaccines prevents the transmission of circulating variants by providing local immune protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Acknowledgments

V.P.C. wants to dedicate this work to L M College of pharmacy as a part of the 75th year celebration of the college. V.A. was supported by a Victoria University place based planetary health grant PH098. V.A. would like to thank the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia for supporting the COVID-19 research.

Authors’ contributions

V.C. conceived the plot; V.C. researched the literature and wrote the manuscript along with other co-authors; V.C., V.A. and V.U., critically revised the first draft. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript. Figures 3, and 4 are created with Biorender.com

Declaration of interest

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or material discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or mending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.