Table 1. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines under evaluation in NHPs and phase 1/2 human trials.
| Vaccine name* | Sponsor† | Design principle‡ | NHP studies (citation) | Human trials (citation) |
| PiCoVacc/CoronaVac§ | Sinovac | Inactivated virus | (1) | (14) |
| BBIBP-CorV | Sinopharm/BIBP | Inactivated virus | (2) | (15) |
| ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) | AstraZeneca | ChAdeno virus–S protein | (3) | (16, 17) |
| Ad26.COV2 | Janssen | Ad26 virus–S protein | (4, 5) | (18) |
| Various constructs | Not applicable║ | DNA–S protein | (6) | |
| INO-4800 | INOVIO | DNA–S protein | (7) | |
| mRNA-1273 | Moderna | mRNA–S protein | (8) | (19, 20) |
| NVX-CoV2373 | Novavax | Recombinant S protein | (9, 10) | (21) |
| Unnamed | Sinopharm/WIBP | Inactivated virus | (22) | |
| Ad5-nCoV | CanSinoBIO | Ad5 virus–S protein | (23, 24) | |
| BNT162b1¶ | Pfizer/BioNTech | mRNA-RBD | (11) | (25–27) |
| BNT162b2 | mRNA–S protein | |||
| Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) | Gamaleya Center | Ad26 + Ad5 virus–S protein | (28) | |
| S trimer | Clover Biopharmaceuticals | Recombinant S protein | (12) | |
| KMS-1 | IMB, CAMS, and PUMC | Inactivated virus | (29, 30) | |
| MRT5500 | Sanofi Pasteur | mRNA–S protein | (13) | |
| CoVLP | Medicago | S protein virus–like particles | (31) | |
| CVnCoV | Curevac | mRNA–S protein | (32) |
*Some vaccines have alternative names or corporate designations. We use the same names as in the papers cited. The entries in this column are arranged in approximate order of appearance of the first relevant paper on a preprint server or journal website. The citations are arranged so that the papers on the nonhuman primate (NHP) studies are all numbered before those on human trials.
†The five companies highlighted in bold in this and subsequent tables are part of the U.S. government’s OWS program or, in the case of Pfizer/BioNTech, have close ties to it. As this program rapidly evolves, readers should consult appropriate websites (e.g., https://medicalcountermeasures.gov/app/barda/coronavirus/COVID19.aspx) for updated information. In some cases, the companies have academic partners. For example, Moderna is the corporate partner of the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center, where the mRNA construct was designed, while the AstraZeneca vaccine (also known as AZD1222) similarly involves the Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and Medicago’s CoVLP vaccine program is a collaboration with McGill University in Canada. BIBP, Beijing Institute of Biological Products; WIBP, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products. Both these organizations are part of the Sinopharm consortium. The Gamaleya Center in Moscow has multiple partners within the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. IMB, Institute of Medical Biology; CAMS, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; PUMC, Peking Union Medical College.
‡The SARS-CoV-2 components of these vaccines are all based on the S protein or, in the case of the Pfizer/BioNTech now abandoned BNT162b1, the S protein’s receptor-binding domain (RBD). The adenovirus, mRNA, and DNA vaccines express the full-length S protein. Truncated variants have been studied as comparator immunogens (4, 6). The recombinant protein vaccines are based on stabilized S full-length S proteins. The inactivated virus vaccines all include S proteins together with other viral components. For full details of the immunogens, including modifications made to the S proteins, the primary papers should be consulted.
§The Sinovac vaccine was named PiCoVacc at the preclinical stage and then renamed CoronaVac when it moved into human trials.
║The DNA vaccines tested in the macaque study are not known to be part of a clinical development program; we include this paper in the review because it has a macaque challenge component and is therefore relevant to the comparison with other such studies.
¶Although both vaccines were studied at phase 1, only BNT162b2 was advanced into phase 2/3.