Eficácia vacinal contra SARS-CoV-2 e suas variantes de preocupação

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019, in the city of Wuhan, China, when cases of pneumonia of unknown cause started to be reported. Subsequently, the etiological agent was identified as a new coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2. Due to its high transmissibility, the virus rapidly spread to other countries, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic in March 2020. As the pandemic progressed, several variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerged, significantly impacting global public health. The objective of this study was to analyze the main vaccine platforms developed against COVID-19, the immune response they induce, and their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. The methodology consisted of a narrative literature review, with a search for articles in recognized scientific databases. The results showed that the vaccines demonstrated high effectiveness against the original strain as well as the Alpha and Delta variants. However, it was found that the Beta variant and especially Omicron and its sublineages exhibited a greater capacity for immune evasion, more significantly affecting the vaccine-induced immune response. On the other hand, SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve constantly, reinforcing the importance of continuous genomic surveillance and the periodic updating of available vaccines to ensure their effectiveness against new variants.