Vaccine efficacy—the biggest challenge today
TL;DR
The efficacy of viral vector-based vaccines is essential to provide long-term protection and prevention of emerging epidemics and pandemics in parallel to other vaccine platforms and the ability to quickly react to emerging variants and their effects on vaccine efficacy is important.
Abstract
The efficacy of viral vector-based vaccines is essential to provide long-term protection and prevention of emerging epidemics and pandemics in parallel to other vaccine platforms. The key challenges of achieving high vaccine efficacy relate to the engineering of highly potent antigens and the generation of long-lasting immunogenicity. Appropriate vaccine development also includes the ability to quickly react to emerging variants and their effects on vaccine efficacy. It can be achieved by booster vaccinations, rapid re-engineering of existing vaccines, but also by targeting conserved regions less prone to mutations, limiting the decrease in efficacy against new variants. Additional aspects involve alternative administration routes, for example, for respiratory infections, the application of intranasal delivery, which can enhance antigenicity and prolong vaccine action. Application of self-amplifying RNA can further potentially improve vaccine efficacy. Vaccine hesitancy has raised concerns about successful coverage of vaccine campaigns. The anti-vaccine campaigns based on misinformation and disinformation have caused serious damage to vaccinations during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to the spread of other infectious diseases.