Since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out, the world has accelerated the development of preventive vaccines. By December 2020, 60 candidate vaccines have been approved for clinical trials, of which 7 vaccines, including 3 inactivated vaccines, 2 mRNA vaccines and 2 vector vaccines, have been authorized for emergency use or conditional marketing. In this paper, we reviewed the development progress in inactivated vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, vector vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, attenuated vaccines and virus-like particle vaccines, as well as advantages and disadvantages of these vaccines. The studies showed that the vaccines against COVID-19 in phase III clinical trials had good safety and immunogenicity, and those authorized vaccines were declared to have good efficacy. However, attention should be paid to the adverse reactions of the vaccines and the long-term protective effects, in order to improve the immunization strategy for the control of COVID-19 epidemic.

Globally, non-pharmacological interventions, such as keeping social distance and wearing masks, are the primary prevention and control strategy in the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The successful development and the urgency use of the COVID-19 vaccines in some countries brings a new stage of combining immunization with non-pharmacological interventions in the fight with COVID-19. For the shortage of vaccines, the immunization strategies vary in countries. To end the pandemic, 47%-85% of the population should be immunized with effective COVID-19 vaccines, thus we should boost the yield of vaccines, formulate scientific immunization strategies, promote the mass immunization, improve the willingness of vaccination, and increase the equity of vaccine allocation; meanwhile, we should strengthen the surveillance of virus variation, vaccine effectiveness and safety, and keep on the vaccine research to copy with the potential threat of the virus variation.

The aging process is increasingly accelerating in China, and the improvement of health literacy is a prerequisite to achieving health for all, and is an important strategy to promote healthy aging. Based on recent studies pertaining to health literacy among the elderly, this review, from the perspective of aging, summarizes the level and common influencing factors of health literacy among Chinese elderly populations, and discusses the health literacy promotion strategies among the elderly, so as to provide insights into improving the health literacy surveillance and promotion quality and health literacy levels among the elderly.

Pneumonia is a common lower respiratory tract infection, which causes a large disease and economic burden worldwide, and is an important public health problem to be solved urgently. Based on review of publications pertaining to the epidemiology of pneumonia from 2013 to 2023, this article summaries the epidemiological characteristics and main influencing factors of pneumonia. It is found that the epidemiological characteristics of pneumonia vary in different areas; men, the elderly and children are the high-risk groups of pneumonia incidence and mortality; and age, smoking, alcohol consumption, air pollution, comorbidity and vaccination are the main factors affecting the incidence and mortality of pneumonia. Strengthening health education, reducing exposure to risk factors and promoting vaccination are recommended to lower the morbidity and mortality of pneumonia in susceptible populations.

The diabetic complications involve blood vessels, eye, kidney and foot, and cause high disability and mortality, which severely endanger human health and quality of life. Epidemiological data have shown that the mortality of diabetes appears a tendency towards a rise in China, which results in a high burden of disease, and early screening and interventions are urgently needed to reduce the risk of mortality. Based on the publications of mortality due to diabetes in China from 2010 to 2021, this review summarizes the epidemiological characteristics of diabetes mortality and the main causes of deaths due to diabetes in China, so as to provide insights into management of diabetes epidemics and reduction in risk of diabetes mortality.

Recent years have witnessed extensive drug resistance of environmental microorganisms due to the abuse of antibiotics. The emergence and global spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has led to great potential harms to human health and environment stability. The ARGs in the environment mainly come from the evolution of microorganisms and horizontal gene transfer between strains, and are widely distributed in water, soil and atmosphere. The transmission of ARGs is affected by residual antibiotics, heavy metals and organic compounds in the environment. The existing detection methods for ARGs include the detection of phenotype and genotype of drug-resistant bacteria. The methods based on polymerase chain reaction have been developed, while metagenomics will open another door for more efficient and accurate detection of ARGs. This paper reviews the studies into the source, outcome, transmission, influencing factors and detection of ARGs, in order to provide reference for the management, control and prevention of ARGs in the environment.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by long course, poor prognosis, multiple complications and high cost of treatment, thus it has become a major public health problem. Based on review of publications pertaining to the epidemiological study of CKD from February 2002 to March 2023, this article summarizes the epidemiological characteristics, risk factors, prevention and control strategies of CKD. It is found that China has the largest number of adult patients with CKD in Asia, and the prevalence of CKD is higher among females and elderly people. The influencing factors for CKD include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension and coronavirus disease 2019. Henceforth, it is of vital importance to emphasize three levels of prevention and optimize the CKD management, so as to support for prevention and control of CKD.