Efficacy and safety of four COVID-19 vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection: A rapid review

Abstract

Introduction: Since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2, there have been efforts to develop vaccines to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: The present study assessed the efficacy and safety of the BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, ChAdOx1/AZD1222 and Gam-COVID-Vac rAd26-S/rAd5-S vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2. Materials and methods: We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Cochrane, and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform on March 15, 2021. The search terms used were: “vaccine” OR “vaccination” AND “covid19” OR “coronavirus” OR “sarscov2” AND “bnt162b2” OR “chadox1-S” OR “azd1222” OR “sputnik” OR “Gam-COVID-Vac” OR “mrna” OR “mRNA-1273” . We measured the risk of bias of the studies and the quality of the evidence using GRADE profiles. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of clinical trials is presented. Results: Of the 74 identified studies, 4 were finally included in this review. The efficacies of the BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, ChAdOx1/AZD1222 and Gam-COVID-VacrAd26-S/rAd5-S vaccines against symptomatic COVID-19 were 95,0% (CI95% 90,3-97,6), 94,1% (CI95% 89,3-96,8), 66,7% (CI95% 57,4-74,0), and 91,1% (CI95% 83,8-95,1), respectively. There was moderate certainty of the evidence due to serious indirectness, when we measured the risk of bias of the studies and the quality of the evidence using GRADE profile. The safety profiles were acceptable, and data on serious adverse events (summary RR=0,93; CI95% 0,77-1,12; p=0,16) and deaths from all causes (summary RR=0,70; CI95% 0,33-1,50; p=0,90) showed no significant differences. Conclusion: The results of this review support the level of evidence for the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines analysed.

Keywords

• coronavirus infections
• vaccines
• treatment outcome
• safety