Development of antiviral vaccines: From traditional vaccination to mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Abstract

It has been more than two years since the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of people have lost their lives during this time. Viruses are among infectious agents that have caused many deadly epidemics throughout history. There is no specific treatment for many viral diseases and the best option is prevention. One of the best ways to overcome the spread of viral epidemics is to vaccinate people in the community. Since the beginning of the use of vaccines, several viral vaccines have been approved and used in medicine. Smallpox was one of the most deadly viral infections that were eradicated after the widespread use of smallpox vaccines. For many diseases such as poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, viral hepatitis, influenza, etc., approved vaccines are now available and routinely used around the world. After the outbreak of Covid-19, many studies were conducted to find a successful vaccine. Several vaccines with different platforms have been approved to fight the SARS-Cov-2 virus and their use has played an important role in subduing the Covid-19 pandemic. mRNA-based vaccines have been the subject of a large amount of research in the development of vaccines. One of the most successful vaccines against SARS-Cov-2 was the mRNA-based vaccines that were approved for the first time. Understanding the development process of vaccines from traditional vaccination to new mRNA-based vaccines play an important role in future studies.