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Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets

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ISSN (Print): 1871-5265
ISSN (Online): 2212-3989

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Mini-Review Article

Rapidly Evolving SARS-CoV-2: A Brief Review Regarding the Variants and their Effects on Vaccine Efficacies

Author(s): Shahid Nawaz, Sara Janiad*, Aiman Fatima, Maira Saleem, Urooj Fatima and Asad Ali

Volume 24, Issue 4, 2024

Published on: 03 January, 2024

Article ID: e030124225219 Pages: 9

DOI: 10.2174/0118715265271109231129112515

Price: $65

Abstract

Since the commencement of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has resulted in millions of mortalities globally, the efforts to minimize the damages have equally been up to the task. One of those efforts includes the mass vaccine development initiative targeting the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). So far, vaccines have tremendously decreased the rate of transmission and infection in most parts of the world. However, the repeated resurgence of different types of mutated versions of the virus, also known as variants, has somehow created uncertainties about the efficacies of different types of vaccines. This review discusses some of the interesting SARS-CoV-2 features, including general structure, genomics, and mechanisms of variants development and their consequent immune escape. This review also focuses very briefly on antigenic drift, shift, and vaccine-developing platforms.

Graphical Abstract

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