Watch Now: Doctors, nurses answer COVID-19 vaccination questions

COVID-19 mRNA vaccine facts

• The COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the U.S. were developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, which requires two doses 21 days apart, and Moderna, which requires two doses 28 days apart.
• Both are mRNA vaccines.
• This type of vaccine works by giving cells instructions to make a harmless piece of what is called the spike protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus.
• The vaccine is injected into the upper arm muscle and once the instructions (mRNa) are inside the immune cells, they are used to make the protein piece. After the protein piece is made, the cell breaks down the instructions (mRNA) and gets rid of it.
• The cell then displays the protein piece on its surface and the person’s immune system recognizes that the protein does not belong there and starts building an immune response and making antibodies. At the end of the process the body has learned how to protect against future infection of COVID-19 without getting sick from it.
• The mRNA vaccines can’t give someone COVID-19
• They do not use the live virus that causes the illness
• They do not affect or interact with a person’s DNA in any way
• They never enter the nucleus of a cell where a person’s DNA (genetic material is kept)

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention