Evaluation of immunoprotection against coronavirus disease 2019: Novel variants, vaccine inoculation, and complications

The strikingly rapidly mutating nature of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome has been a constant challenge during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this study, various techniques, including reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests, and high-throughput sequencing were analyzed under different scenarios and spectra for the etiological diagnosis of COVID-19 at the population scale. This study aimed to summarize the latest research progress and provide up-to-date understanding of the methodology used for the evaluation of the immunoprotection conditions against future variants of SARS-CoV-2. Our novel work reviewed the current methods for the evaluation of the immunoprotection status of a specific population (endogenous antibodies) before and after vaccine inoculation (administered with biopharmaceutical antibody products). The present knowledge of the immunoprotection status regarding the COVID-19 complications was also discussed. Knowledge on the immunoprotection status of specific populations can help guide the design of pharmaceutical antibody products, inform practice guidelines, and develop national regulations with respect to the timing of and need for extra rounds of vaccine boosters.