After the Pandemic: Updates on Research Studies and Findings

Billions of dollars were spent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers and medical professionals in private and public sectors focused on finding effective vaccines. And they went in search of understanding the origin and current and future variants of COVID-19. Throughout the past three years, those who are dedicated to finding answers and effective solutions have produced information that helps the public make safe, informed decisions regarding vaccinations, boosters and health and safety precautions.

Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States declaring that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, there remains much to be discovered. The Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated¹, “The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat. The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains.”

Vaccinations and Boosters

Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna

The names Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna are synonymous with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. The two companies are undeterred by COVID-19 no longer being considered a pandemic. Instead, they continue to utilize messenger RNA (mRNA) technology because it effectively keeps pace with novel COVID variants and subvariants.

Next Generation Vaccines

Over the past three years, the original SARS-CoV-2 has mutated. The various variants, subvariants, and breakthrough infections regardless of an increase in vaccinations highlighted the need for next generation vaccines. These vaccines will address the gap between traditional parenteral approaches and newer approaches.

Mucosal Vaccines

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) along with other private and government agencies held a virtual workshop² to discuss mucosal vaccines for COVID-19. Those who attended the workshop discussed the possibility and potential mucosal vaccines to prevent the COVID-19 virus from being transmitted.

The goal of the workshop² was to identify pathways and obstacles to introducing mucosal vaccines as a safe, cost-efficient alternative to traditional vaccines. While traditional vaccines are effective at preventing severe symptoms or severe disease, they have a decreased effectiveness in the prevention of transmission as evidenced by the continued spread of COVID-19 and its variants in vaccinated areas.

Viruses such as COVID-19 facilitate transmission through aerosols or droplets that are exhaled. The rapid spread of COVID-19 is attributed to its transmission. The scientific and medical communities have turned their attention to finding new, effective ways to administer COVID-19 vaccines. The shift from traditional ways of thinking about vaccination (the generation of robust systematic antibody and cellular immunity) to mucosal vaccines³ is becoming an area of interest.

Researchers hypothesize mucosal vaccines have potential to trigger protective immune responses at the sites of infection. Adaptive immunity at high-risk sites is not new. Researchers are building on previous information to study the effectiveness of a mucosal vaccine for COVID-19.

The medical community and researchers acknowledge the effectiveness or increased immunity of mucosal vaccines³ remains unknown.

Clinical Trials

Medical and research organizations continue their COVID-19 clinical trials⁴. They, and others, are studying to find and improve how COVID-19 is diagnosed and treated. The organizations, private, academic, and public health, are also focused on discovering ways to block the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. The U.S. National Library of Medicine’s website ClinicalTrials.gov has a comprehensive catalog of vaccine studies and drug studies.