Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges

Vaccination programs against SARS-CoV-2 constitute the mainstay of public health interventions against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Currently available vaccines have shown 90% or better rates of protection against severe disease and mortality. Barely a year after vaccines became available, the Omic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Evropi Amanatidou, Anna Gkiouliava, Eva Pella, Maria Serafidi, Dimitrios Tsilingiris, Natalia G. Vallianou, Ιrene Karampela, Maria Dalamaga
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-06-01
Series:Metabolism Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589936822000184
_version_ 1818212818159140864
author Evropi Amanatidou
Anna Gkiouliava
Eva Pella
Maria Serafidi
Dimitrios Tsilingiris
Natalia G. Vallianou
Ιrene Karampela
Maria Dalamaga
author_facet Evropi Amanatidou
Anna Gkiouliava
Eva Pella
Maria Serafidi
Dimitrios Tsilingiris
Natalia G. Vallianou
Ιrene Karampela
Maria Dalamaga
author_sort Evropi Amanatidou
collection DOAJ
description Vaccination programs against SARS-CoV-2 constitute the mainstay of public health interventions against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Currently available vaccines have shown 90% or better rates of protection against severe disease and mortality. Barely a year after vaccines became available, the Omicron variant and its unprecedented speed of transmission has posed a new challenge. Overall, Omicron presents increased immune escape, transmissibility, and decreased pathogenicity. Vaccines do not offer a full protection against SARS-CoV-2 acquisition, since “breakthrough” infections may occur in fully vaccinated individuals, who may in turn spread the virus to others. Breakthrough infections may be causally related to the viral profile (viral variant and load, incubation period, transmissibility, pathogenicity, immune evasion), immunity characteristics (mucosal versus systemic immunity, duration of immunity, etc.), host determinants (age, comorbidities, immune status, immunosuppressive drugs) and vaccination properties (platform, antigen dose, dose number, dose interval, route of administration). Determining the rate of breakthrough infections may be challenging and necessitates the conduction of population-based studies regarding vaccine effectiveness as well as neutralizing antibody testing, a surrogate of immune protection. In this review, we analyze the causes of breakthrough infections, their clinical consequences (severity of infection and transmission), methods of determining their incidence as well as challenges and perspectives. Long COVID as well as multi-inflammatory syndrome in adolescents may be significantly reduced in breakthrough infections. The need for universal pancoranavirus vaccines that would aim at protecting against a plethora of SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as emerging variants is discussed. Finally, novel vaccine strategies, such as nasal vaccines, may confer robust mucosal and systemic protection, reducing efficiently transmission.
first_indexed 2024-12-12T05:54:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d525120d65b445cb9f3db0e03fbffbad
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2589-9368
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-12T05:54:26Z
publishDate 2022-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Metabolism Open
spelling doaj.art-d525120d65b445cb9f3db0e03fbffbad2022-12-22T00:35:36ZengElsevierMetabolism Open2589-93682022-06-0114100180Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challengesEvropi Amanatidou0Anna Gkiouliava1Eva Pella2Maria Serafidi3Dimitrios Tsilingiris4Natalia G. Vallianou5Ιrene Karampela6Maria Dalamaga7Laboratory of Biomathematics, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, GreeceLaboratory of Biomathematics, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, GreeceLaboratory of Biomathematics, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, GreeceLaboratory of Biomathematics, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, GreeceFirst Department of Propaedeutic Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laiko General Hospital, Athens, GreeceFirst Department of Internal Medicine, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, GreeceSecond Department of Critical Care, Attikon General University Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Chaidari, Athens, GreeceDepartment of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; Corresponding author.Vaccination programs against SARS-CoV-2 constitute the mainstay of public health interventions against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Currently available vaccines have shown 90% or better rates of protection against severe disease and mortality. Barely a year after vaccines became available, the Omicron variant and its unprecedented speed of transmission has posed a new challenge. Overall, Omicron presents increased immune escape, transmissibility, and decreased pathogenicity. Vaccines do not offer a full protection against SARS-CoV-2 acquisition, since “breakthrough” infections may occur in fully vaccinated individuals, who may in turn spread the virus to others. Breakthrough infections may be causally related to the viral profile (viral variant and load, incubation period, transmissibility, pathogenicity, immune evasion), immunity characteristics (mucosal versus systemic immunity, duration of immunity, etc.), host determinants (age, comorbidities, immune status, immunosuppressive drugs) and vaccination properties (platform, antigen dose, dose number, dose interval, route of administration). Determining the rate of breakthrough infections may be challenging and necessitates the conduction of population-based studies regarding vaccine effectiveness as well as neutralizing antibody testing, a surrogate of immune protection. In this review, we analyze the causes of breakthrough infections, their clinical consequences (severity of infection and transmission), methods of determining their incidence as well as challenges and perspectives. Long COVID as well as multi-inflammatory syndrome in adolescents may be significantly reduced in breakthrough infections. The need for universal pancoranavirus vaccines that would aim at protecting against a plethora of SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as emerging variants is discussed. Finally, novel vaccine strategies, such as nasal vaccines, may confer robust mucosal and systemic protection, reducing efficiently transmission.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589936822000184AntibodyBreakthrough infectionCOVID-19ImmunityNeutralizing antibodyOmicron
spellingShingle Evropi Amanatidou
Anna Gkiouliava
Eva Pella
Maria Serafidi
Dimitrios Tsilingiris
Natalia G. Vallianou
Ιrene Karampela
Maria Dalamaga
Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
Metabolism Open
Antibody
Breakthrough infection
COVID-19
Immunity
Neutralizing antibody
Omicron
title Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
title_full Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
title_fullStr Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
title_full_unstemmed Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
title_short Breakthrough infections after COVID-19 vaccination: Insights, perspectives and challenges
title_sort breakthrough infections after covid 19 vaccination insights perspectives and challenges
topic Antibody
Breakthrough infection
COVID-19
Immunity
Neutralizing antibody
Omicron
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589936822000184
work_keys_str_mv AT evropiamanatidou breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT annagkiouliava breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT evapella breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT mariaserafidi breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT dimitriostsilingiris breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT nataliagvallianou breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT irenekarampela breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges
AT mariadalamaga breakthroughinfectionsaftercovid19vaccinationinsightsperspectivesandchallenges