There are many differences between the COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer, Oxford-Astra-Zeneca and Moderna vaccines each require two doses and you are not fully vaccinated until a week after your second shot.
BBC health correspondent Laura Foster looks at how much immunity they give, how they prevent infection and if any are better than the other.
The vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines.
mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.
mRNA vaccines explained by Tal Zaks who is Chief Medical Officer at Moderna:
Sources:
- www.bbc.com - Covid vaccine differences? Pfizer v Oxford v Moderna
- www.cdc.gov - Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines
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