Corona virus (CoV) has caused multiple epidemics in the past two decades, including the SARS-CoV infection in China (2001); MERS-CoV dissemination in the Middle East (2012) and currently, the pandemic of COVID-19 (corona virus disease). The latter has proven to be the most catastrophic of all, resulting in more than 1 million mortalities worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has still urged the world governments to ensure a persistent adherence to social distancing and other standardized preventive protocol.
Vaccination is aimed at inducing active immunity in an individual for prevention against infectious diseases. In the recent few years, there has been a tremendous burden over the medical community to come up with vaccines against a multitude of viral illnesses, such as Ebola virus, Zika virus, Influenza H1N1 virus etc. (1) For COVID-19, the vaccine development process is progressing at a moderate pace. According to WHO, there are at least 100 different versions of COVID-19 vaccine currently under development (2). WHO officials have clearly stated that the initial vaccine doses will be offered to those at high risk of infection, including the healthcare staff. However, developing a COVID vaccine has proven to be quite challenging due to a few basic hurdles.
For COVID vaccine preparation, an important task is to modulate the properties of the viral antigens so as to ensure an effective immunization. Moreover, it is essential to design a vaccine product with minimal adverse reactions since a few major side effects had been reported while previously experimenting on vaccines against SARS/MERS corona virus (1). Still however, a number of vaccine preparations are being manufactured within the public sector as well as by the private pharmaceutical giants, such as GlaxoSmithKine, Pfizer, and Janssen. Most of these manufacturers are located in the U.S.A, and several Asian countries including China (3). Moreover, the vaccine trials are being passed through a series of experimental phases while some of the products are believed to be made available to public by the beginning of 2021. It is noteworthy that Russia has become the first country worldwide to license a COVID vaccine for public use.
Pharmacological treatment of COVID-19 has developed substantially in the previous few months. In this regard, some useful treatment options are discussed below:
Remdesivir was originally manufactured for combating the Ebola virus disease (4). However, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Remdesivir as an emergency treatment option against COVID-19, only a few months ago. The clinical evidence of Remdesivir activity has been derived from multiple studies. For example, a clinical trial in China randomly assigned 237 COVID-19 patients into two groups. The experimental group completed a 10-day treatment regimen of Remdesivir while the control patients were administered a placebo drug. It was later observed that Remdesivir-treated group had a comparatively better recovery rate (5).
Azithromycin is a major anti-biotic agent and has been successfully utilized against corona, especially in combination with hydroxychloroquine (6). However, the cardiotoxicity of this drug combination is a significant health risk, which requires a definite caution.
Ivermectin is commonly prescribed as an anti-parasitic drug. However, animal studies have indicated a significant efficacy of the drug against COVID-19 (7). A multitude of human trials has also been successfully conducted to address the role of ivermectin against coronavirus.
Convalescent plasma therapy involves the extraction of plasma anti-bodies from recovered COVID patients and subsequently, its transfusion into the diseased individuals. It has been recognized as a major life-saving procedure for severely ill patients (8).
Steroid therapy with dexamethasone has also been shown to induce rapid recovery among critically ill patients who require ventilator support (9).
In the earlier 2020, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were being considered as major treatment as well as prophylactic options against coronavirus. However, their role has recently been downplayed by the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel. The researchers have emphasized that the toxicity profile of these drugs far outweighs their therapeutic efficacy (10).
It is way too early to declare a total elimination of coronavirus dissemination. Despite having a wide range of therapeutic options, lack of a specific vaccine might predispose us to recurrent COVID infections (11). Therefore, it is strongly advised to the public to strictly adopt all the possible preventive measures.
