Filling the Gap Until Full Vaccine Deployment in the War on Coronavirus Disease-19

Abstract

The authorization for emergency use of a vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been issued in diverse countries in December 2020, and additional vaccine candidates soon may be cleared for a similar emergency use. If it is reasonable to believe that in some Western countries most people may be vaccinated by the end of 2021, insufficient supplies, access inequities across countries, and deficiencies in enforcing the participatory engagement of communities will present important challenges for the achievement of sufficient vaccination coverage worldwide in less than 2–3 years. A possible strategy for bridging the gap until full vaccine deployment is based on the integration of improved non-pharmaceutical measures and recently authorized pharmaceutical interventions to reduce as much as possible hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months, when recurring infection peaks are expected.