COVID-19 Vaccine Information
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COVID-19 Vaccines
Pfizer-BioNTech / Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine
The Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine that has both synthetic, or chemically produced, components and enzymatically produced components from naturally occurring substances such as proteins.
List of ingredients:
- ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis
- (2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide
- 1,2-Distearoyl-snglycero-3- phosphocholine
- cholesterol
- potassium chloride
- monobasic potassium phosphate
- sodium chloride
- dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate
- Sucrose
Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 Vaccine
The nucleoside-modified mRNA in the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is formulated in lipid particles, which enable delivery of the nucleoside modified mRNA into host cells to allow expression of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike antigen. The vaccine elicits an immune response to the Spike antigen, which protects against COVID-19.
List of ingredients:
- SM-102 ((heptadecan-9-yl 8-((2-hydroxyethyl) (6-oxo-6-(undecyloxy) hexyl) amino) octanoate)
- 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000 [PEG2000-DMG]
- cholesterol
- 1,2-distearoyl-snglycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]
- Acetic acid
- Tromethamine & Tromethamine hydrochloride
- Sodium acetate
- Sucrose
Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine
Janssen is a human adenovirus viral vector COVID-19 vaccine. Janssen’s AdVac® vectors are based on a specific type of adenovirus. This type of adenovirus has been genetically modified so that it can no longer multiply in humans and cannot cause disease. The modified adenovirus is used as a vector (a carrier) of the genetic code of an antigen. Antigens are substances foreign to the human body that trigger an immune response.
List of ingredients:
- Recombinant, replication-incompetent adenovirus type 26 expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
- citric acid monohydrate
- trisodium citrate dihydrate
- 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD)
- polysorbate-80
- sodium chloride
- ethanol
AstraZeneca is used throughout Europe and Australia.
The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is a replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector, containing the full-length codon-optimised coding sequence of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein along with a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) leader sequence.
The adenovirus is called replication-deficient because some of its essential genes were deleted and replaced by a gene coding for the spike protein. Following vaccination, the adenovirus vector enters the cells, releases its genes, those are transported to the cell nucleus, thereafter the cell’s machinery does the transcription into mRNA and the translation into proteins.
List of ingredients:
- L-Histidine
- L-Histidine hydrochloride monohydrate
- Magnesium chloride hexahydrate
- Polysorbate 80 (E 433)
- Ethanol
- Sucrose
- Sodium chloride
- Disodium edetate (dihydrate)
- Water for injections
An Emergency Use Authorization is:
Under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), when the Secretary of HHS declares that an emergency use authorization is appropriate, FDA may authorize unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by CBRN threat agents when certain criteria are met, including there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives. The HHS declaration to support such use must be based on one of four types of determinations of threats or potential threats by the Secretary of HHS, Homeland Security, or Defense.
Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines use a technology called messenger RNA that no other vaccine currently on the market uses. While the technology is not itself new, there are no, and never has been, any licensed mRNA vaccines in the world. So, it’s new to us.
Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is manufactured using a specific type of virus called adenovirus type 26 (Ad26). The vaccine uses Ad26 to deliver a piece of the DNA, or genetic material, that is used to make the distinctive “spike” protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.