At present, four types of COVID-19 vaccines have been developed or are in development. They include viral vector vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, subunit vaccines, and whole virus vaccines. They each have two subtypes, so there are eight subtypes of vaccines.
1.) Nucleic acid vaccines
Nucleic acid vaccines use the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s genetic materials (either RNA or DNA and usually the COVID-19 spike protein) to instruct the cells to make the antigen. They are relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture. However, this is a new technology, so the overall safety of the vaccines has to be assessed, especially over the long term. …