ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of vaccines for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) . Methods The CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, PubMed, EMbase and Web of Science databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines from their inception to June 30th, 2022. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 12.0 software. Results A total of 13 RCTs involving 139 015 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the sero-antibody conversion rate (RR=37.883, 95%CI 8.086 to 177.491, P<0.001) and infection prevention rate (RR=1.011, 95%CI 1.006 to 1.017, P<0.001) of the vaccine group were higher than those of the placebo group. The incidence of adverse reactions in the vaccine group was higher than that in the placebo group (OR=1.839, 95%CI 1.165 to 2.903, P=0.009), which mainly included pain, redness, swelling, fever, headache and itching (P<0.05). However, the incidence of serious adverse reactions was not significantly different from that of the placebo group. Conclusion The current evidence shows that the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines is high. The most prevalent adverse reactions are mild and moderate, and severe adverse reactions are the same as those of the placebo group. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.