Abstract
BACKGROUND: To mitigate the current COVID-19 pandemic by the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), designing of repurposed antiviral drugs and the development of vaccines using different platforms have been the most significant work by the scientists around the world since the beginning of 2020. MAIN BODY OF THE ABSTRACT: While positive results are being noticed with the currently used vaccines, the emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic put the global public health in the deadliest health issue. Present review attempted to focus on the development of the current COVID-19 situation in the light of knowledge gathered from the recently published literature. An important facet regarding the COVID-19 severity is the avoidance of host immunity by the SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. Indeed, the genetic similarities between SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) showed the viral escape strategies of the protective host immunity which appeared as the major problem for the effective vaccine development. SHORT CONCLUSION: Present review discussed the prescribed platforms of vaccine development and pondered on the cellular and humoral immune responses by vaccines; and apart from vaccination approaches, non-pharmaceutical intervention approaches have also been pondered based on modeling rules.