Vaccine Info

COVID-19 Vaccines

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Staff
Last reviewed
February 29, 2024
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COVID-19 Vaccines 2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on January 30, 2020. While less fatal than SARS-1 infections in 2003, the severity of COVID-19 can be reduced by various types of vaccines. Scientists are credited with filing the initial vaccine patent in February 2020. As of February 7, 2024, there are 13 COVID-19 vaccines granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the WHO.

Launched in 2020, COVAX is the multilateral mechanism for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.COVAX supplied nearly 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines to 146 economies during the pandemic and closed on December 31, 2023. COVAX helped lower-income economies achieve two-dose coverage of 57%, compared to the global average of 67%.

On December 13, 2023, the WHO announced that given the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus evolution and the breadth in immune responses demonstrated by monovalent XBB.1.5 vaccines against circulating variants, the Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition advises retaining the current COVID-19 vaccine antigen composition, i.e., a monovalent XBB.1.5 as the COVID-19 vaccine antigen.  

COVID-19 Vaccines in the U.S.

Since 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has Approved and Authorized various vaccines, antivirals, and monoclonal antibody therapies to prevent and treat people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 beta coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and Long COVID. The U.S. FDA has approved COVID-19 vaccines and issued various authorizations during the multi-year pandemic. On February 28, 2024, the U.S. CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting reviewed: COVID-19–Associated Hospitalizations among Adults — COVID-NET, 2023–2024; COVID-19 vaccination coverage; Vaccine effectiveness of updated (2023-2024) COVID-19 vaccines; Economic analysis of an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine; Evidence to Recommendations Framework; Next Steps for the COVID-19 Vaccine Program.

The initial FDA Approval was for the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine on August 23, 2021, followed by Moderna's SpikeVax™ vaccine on February 4, 2022. The FDA authorized the Jcovden COVID-19 vaccine on February 27, 2021. Then, on July 13, 2022, the FDA Authorized the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine (Nuvaxovid™, NVX-CoV2373). In June 2023, the FDA withdrew authorization for Janssen's Jcovden® vaccine.

As of September 11, 2023, the FDA had approved Pfizer's COMIRNATY 2023-2024 Formulation vaccine for individuals 12 years and older and granted emergency use authorization for individuals six months through 11 years of age for the companies' Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA also approved Moderna Inc.'s new COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna announced on September 10, 2023, that clinical trial data from a research assay confirmed its updated COVID-19 vaccine generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86 (Pirola). Novavax Inc.'s updated COVID-19 vaccine was approved in the U.S. in October 2023.

As of October 2023, more than 676,728,782 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered during the pandemic. To view current and historical maps of COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. by demographics, visit Maps of COVID-19 Vaccinations. As of September 28, 2023, the CDC no longer distributes the white CDC COVID-19 Vaccination cards and does not maintain vaccination records. People should contact their state health department's immunization information system

U.S. CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Presentations

The U.S. CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) webinar on September 19, 2023, presented updated guidance on approved COVID-19 vaccines. On August 10, 2023, the CDC emphasized the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations (58%) for pregnant women. Previously, Sara Oliver, MD, MSPH, presented updated recommendations for COVID-19 vaccine use in the U.S. on May 11, 2023. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) gave the following information on February 24, 2023: Introduction, Dr. Matthew Daley; COVID-19 vaccine safety updates: CDC, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro; COVID-19 vaccine safety updates: FDA, Dr. Richard Forshee; VaST summary, Dr. Keipp Talbot; WG interpretation and summary, Dr. Evelyn Twentyman;  Updates on COVID-19 hospitalizations: COVID-NET, Dr. Chris Taylor; Updates to COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in the United States, Dr. Amadea Britton; Considerations for transitioning to bivalent primary series, Dr. Sara Oliver; Benefit/risk for COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Megan Wallace; COVID-19 vaccines: future directions. Previously, on October 20, 2022, the ACIP members unanimously voted to expand the 2023 COVID-19 vaccination schedules.

COVID-19 Vaccines International

As of 2024, there have been about 50 approved COVID-19 vaccines since the pandemic began in late 2019. SKYCovione™ became the 12th and CORBEVAX®  the 13th COVID-19 vaccine granted an EUL by the WHO. On February 7, 2024, the U.K.'s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that mRNA and protein-based COVID-19 vaccines should be offered to certain people under specific conditions. To date, eight vaccines against COVID-19 have been authorized by the European Commission for use in the European Union (EU).

Sanofi-GSK's Vidprevtyn® protein-based vaccine reported positive prevention of COVID-19 symptoms and reduced side effects in September 2023. The protein-based COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid™ received Full Marketing Authorization in the EU on July 6, 2023. On June 20, 2023, the GEMCOVAC®-OM vaccine received approval from the regulator Drug Control General of India. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) human medicines committee has recommended authorizing Bimervax (previously COVID-19 Vaccine HIPRA) as a booster in people aged 16 years and above who have been vaccinated with an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and endorsed a joint statement on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines issued by the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities on July 5, 2023. Arcturus Therapeutics and CSL's sa-mRNA ARCT-154 COVID-19 vaccine was approved in Japan in late 2023.

On April 14, 2023, the WHO announced there is in vitro evidence to show that immune imprinting, a phenomenon in which immune memory recall biases the immune response towards previously encountered antigen – occurs with repeated exposure to the same antigen. However, the clinical impact of immune imprinting in observational epidemiological studies is unclear due to limited data and the possibility of bias. The COVAX vaccine data brief was produced by Gavi, the VaccineAlliance's Office of the COVAX Facility, based on data from CEPI, WHO, and UNICEF.

Clinical Trials

No clinical trials found