Table 1.

Rolling out COVID-19 vaccine candidates

Developer	Vaccine	Side-effects	Advantages	Disadvantages	Vaccine efficiency
Pfizer-BioNTech	Lipid nanoparticle mRNA vaccines	Injection site pain, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever [113], allergic reactions, Bell’s Palsy (partial facial paralysis) [114]	Does not interact with the genome; rapid production capacity; stimulates both cellular and humoral immunity	Needs to be kept at cold temperatures; two-dose vaccine	~ 95%
Moderna	Prefusion stabilized S protein mRNA vaccine	Injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever	Does not interact with the genome; rapid production capacity; stimulates both cellular and humoral immunity	Needs to be kept at cold temperatures; two-dose vaccine	94.1%
Russian Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V	Adenoviral vector-based vaccine	subjective heart palpitation [115], injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, fever	Dry form; no need to be kept at cold temperatures; strong immune response; long-term gene expression	Two-dose vaccine; data on safety or efficacy have not been released; recombinant viruses may cause disease in immunocompromised hosts	91.4%
Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm	Inactivated vaccine of SARS-CoV-2	Injection site pain, rash, headaches, muscle pain, fever, nausea, vomiting	Induces strong antibody response; no need to be kept at cold temperatures	Two-dose vaccine; data on safety or efficacy have not been released; recombinant viruses may cause disease in immunocompromised hosts	86%. [116]
University of Oxford/AstraZeneca	Adenovirus vector-based vaccine	Neutropenia (temporary) [117], injection site pain, rash, headaches, muscle pain	Single-dose schedule; long-term gene expression	Recombinant viruses may cause disease in immunocompromised hosts; prior exposure to vector virus (e.g., adenovirus) may reduce immunogenicity [117]	62% [118]
Bharat Biotech	BBV152 Inactivated vaccine	Injection site pain, fever, headache, fatigue	Induces strong antibody response; no need to be kept at cold temperatures	Two-dose vaccine; requires large quantities of virus	N.A. [35]
Sinovac	CoronaVaca Inactivated vaccine	Injection site pain, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, headache	Induces strong antibody response; no need to be kept at cold temperatures.	Two-dose vaccine; requires large quantities of virus	50.7% [119]
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ-78436735 Nonreplicating viral vector	Injection site pain, rash, headache, muscle soreness, mild to moderate febrile episode and myalgia	Fast manufacturing time; single-dose vaccine	Dependency of vaccine efficiency on hosts’ immune responses	66% [120]
CanSino Biologics	Convidecia Nonreplicating viral vector	Injection site pain, rash, headaches, muscle soreness, fever	Single-dose vaccine; Rapid manufacturing	Dependency of vaccine efficiency on hosts’ immune responses	65.3% [35,120]