SARS-CoV-2 Leading Vaccine Candidates: Progress and Development

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak that originated in China in December 2019, spread globally and was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO. The genome sequence of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was made available publicly in an unprecedented time that allowed rapid research and development to combat this deadly virus. Due to the absence of therapeutics, vaccines could be a promising solution towards the control and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infections. As a quick response to this pandemic, the already established vaccine platforms are being explored for development of an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of experimental vaccines are emerging in a record time. In this review various vaccine strategies that include nucleic acid (mRNA and DNA), viral vector based, partial or complete genome based inactivated, and protein subunit vaccines are summarized. We have also highlighted the status of clinical trials currently in progress and the preliminary findings of these frontrunner vaccine candidates. To eradicate the current COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent future outbreaks, successful vaccine platforms should be capable of scalable manufacturing and global distribution.