Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38383356›Full record

ReviewBMC infectious diseases2024

Comparative efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in phase III trials: a network meta-analysis.

Xiaodi Wu, Ke Xu, Ping Zhan, Hongbing Liu, Fang Zhang, Yong Song, Tangfeng Lv

Open access · goldAbstract readComparative StudyReviewNetwork Meta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Review in BMC infectious diseases, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
8.6field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. COVID-19 vaccines: current and future challenges.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Xiaodi Wu *Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China.
Ke Xu *Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China.
Ping ZhanDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China.
Hongbing LiuDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China.
Fang ZhangDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China.
Yong SongMedical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China. yong.song@nju.edu.cn.
Tangfeng LvMedical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210000, China. bairoushui@163.com.
Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command · CNNanjing University · CNNanjing Medical University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOver a dozen vaccines are in or have completed phase III trials at an unprecedented speed since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. In this review, we aimed to compare and rank these vaccines indirectly in terms of efficacy and safety using a network meta-analysis.

methodsWe searched Embase, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library for phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from their inception to September 30, 2023. Two investigators independently selected articles, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. Outcomes included efficacy in preventing symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the incidence of serious adverse events (SAEs) according to vaccine type and individual vaccines in adults and elderly individuals. The risk ratio and mean differences were calculated with 95% confidence intervals using a Bayesian network meta-analysis.

resultsA total of 25 RCTs involving 22 vaccines were included in the study. None of vaccines had a higher incidence of SAEs than the placebo. Inactivated virus vaccines might be the safest, with a surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) value of 0.16. BIV1-CovIran showed the highest safety index (SUCRA value: 0.13), followed by BBV152, Soberana, Gam-COVID-Vac, and ZF2001. There were no significant differences among the various types of vaccines regarding the efficacy in preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, although there was a trend toward higher efficacy of the mRNA vaccines (SUCRA value: 0.09). BNT162b2 showed the highest efficacy (SUCRA value: 0.02) among the individual vaccines, followed by mRNA-1273, Abdala, Gam-COVID-Vac, and NVX-CoV2373. BNT162b2 had the highest efficacy (SUCRA value: 0.08) in the elderly population, whereas CVnCoV, CoVLP + AS03, and CoronaVac were not significantly different from the placebo.

conclusionsNone of the different types of vaccines were significantly superior in terms of efficacy, while mRNA vaccines were significantly inferior in safety to other types. BNT162b2 had the highest efficacy in preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults and the elderly, whereas BIV1-CovIran had the lowest incidence of SAEs in adults.

Indexed as

Clinical Trials, Phase III as TopicCOVID-19COVID-19 VaccinesSARS-CoV-2Bayes TheoremHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicVaccine EfficacyVaccines, InactivatedCOVID-19 VaccinesVaccines, InactivatedCOVID-19EfficacyNetwork Meta-AnalysisSARS-CoV-2Vaccine

Identifiers

PMID38383356
PMCPMC10880292
OpenAlexW4391995452

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.