COVID-19

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged three years ago and has caused an epic global pandemic of acute respiratory disease, named “coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ” This has resulted in almost 6.6 million deaths, 635 million cases globally, and an ever-increasing number of patients suffering from post-COVID conditions.COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of pulmonary infection in causing significant morbidity and mortality to previously unforeseen degrees in recent history. Respiratory infections have been known to cause extrapulmonary manifestations, but COVID-19 has underscored how viral lung infections can profoundly impact many organs, including the cardiovascular system. More data have emerged to implicate the roles of endothelial injury, inflammation, immune dysregulation, and micro-thrombosis. Unfortunately, many infected patients suffer from persistent post-COVID-19 health problems ranging from cardiopulmonary to neuropsychiatric symptoms. Ongoing efforts to better understand these post-COVID-19 conditions will hopefully identify viable treatment and management approaches to help these patients recover. Lastly, the collective global response allowed for the development, production, and dissemination of safe and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. This work highlighted continued challenges relating to evolving viral variants, immune evasion, waning immunity, and disparate global access to vaccines.