The consequential impact of JUUL on youth vaping and the landscape of tobacco products: the state of play in the COVID-19 era

Abstract JUUL is a groundbreaking electronic cigarette (e-cig) and the preeminent vaping product on the market. Here, we provide an overview of the rapid and spectacular rise of JUUL and its remarkable fall within the timespan of 2015 – 2020. We describe JUUL’s entering the market in June 2015, becoming the industry leader in mid 2017, and experiencing a litany of setbacks by late 2019 through to early 2020. We focus on the role played by JUUL in the ongoing epidemic of youth vaping. Furthermore, we discuss the competing views on the public health impact of JUUL use (in particular), and e-cig vaping (in general). We also highlight the latest trends in youth vaping and sales records for JUUL and tobacco cigarettes, which were just released. In view of the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, we provide a concise summary of the existing evidence on the relationship between vaping and smoking and the prevalence, disease course, and clinical outcomes of COVID-19.