Developing Next-Generation COVID Vaccines, an Urgent Need

As the COVID pandemic has progressed, the healthcare industry has seen the virus and the state of the pandemic evolve. Equipped with the available vaccines and treatments, providers and other healthcare professionals have put forth their best vaccination efforts. Despite the incredible benefits that current vaccines have introduced, Peter W. Marks, MD, PhD, and his colleagues Philip A. Gruppuso, MD, and Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS, highlight an urgent need to develop next-generation COVID vaccines.

In a Viewpoint article published in JAMA Network, Marks and his colleagues note that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has a high mutation rate, which has prevented the elimination of the virus thus far. He and his colleagues begin their article by noting, “despite the availability of safe and effective vaccines, SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate rampantly across the globe. Problems with vaccine access and hesitancy present throughout the pandemic are partially responsible. However, the seemingly ceaseless progression of increasingly transmissible variants, recently including BF.7 and BQ.1.1, presents a major challenge to medical interventions, particularly vaccines.”

The Viewpoint article notes that, thus far, vaccination has been very effective in preventing severe illness. According to a JAMA publication from November 2022, the New York City Vaccine for All campaign is estimated to have saved approximately $27.96 billion. These savings account for both direct and indirect healthcare spending. Additionally, the campaign significantly reduced the potential years of life lost.

Despite these savings, Marks and his peers note that rapid viral mutations may lead to a variant that cannot be prevented or minimized by the existing vaccines.

The clinicians in the article suggest that current research for the next generation of COVID vaccines be modeled after early pandemic efforts focused on a few promising candidates.

The writers are not implying that this effort will be easy. Instead, they come out and say that it will be demanding and challenging. Progress will not be made through “incremental modifications on the current generation of vaccines.” Marks comments that this method of advancing current vaccines will not put the healthcare industry ahead of the disease mutation or provide prolonged protection against infection.

Marks and his peers conclude, “What we learn as we address the challenges posed by SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 about virology and immunology, along with the accompanying advances in technology and manufacturing that will come from developing the next generation of vaccines, may broadly benefit public health during our current era of constantly emerging and reemerging infectious diseases,” in the publication.