What is included in the COVID-19 vaccine?

People who are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine may ask basic questions such as what’s inside.

Getting the answer is not as easy as the frequent public health messages about where and how to get the vaccine. But they are available.

Dr. Ruparilimaier, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of behavioral and practice sciences at the International Vaccine Access Center, said such concerns also existed in previous vaccines.

“Parents were particularly concerned about the types of ingredients in the vaccine,” Limaye said, and Limaye said this long-standing concern exists in the new vaccine.

“Because we’re just in the middle of a pandemic, I think this vaccine has been scrutinized more than any other vaccine. [Emergency Use Authorization] It goes through a complete approval process, but the process will go on, “she said. “Anti-vaxxers.”

Starting this week, Times Free Press has begun addressing some of the common questions about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine. “How will the COVID-19 vaccine be safe if development is urgent?” In this article, we will consider the following:

Question: What is included in the dose of COVID-19 vaccine and are the ingredients safe?

Answer: 3 companies — Pfizer, modern And Johnson & Johnson — For COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States, the components of the vaccine are listed on their website and on the US Food and Drug Administration website.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention material The website also states, “No vaccine contains eggs, gelatin, latex or preservatives. All COVID-19 vaccines include metals such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium and rare earth alloys. Or manufactured products such as microelectronics are not included. Electrodes, carbon nanotubes or nanowire semiconductors “

The COVID-19 vaccine does not contain coronavirus and cannot be inoculated with COVID-19.

Daniel Salmon, Director of the Vaccine Safety Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health — The website also contains a detailed list of vaccine ingredients — When reading the ingredient list, it is advisable to be careful not to remove the item from the context.

“Some ingredients look scary, so you need to be careful when looking at them,” Salmon said, citing formaldehyde, which is used in some vaccines, as an example.

None of the COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States contain formaldehyde, but some false articles widely distributed on social media state that they do. I will.US Food and Drug Administration Lists common ingredients found in US licensed vaccine sequences online and describes their function..

“In almost all cases, the poison is included in the dose,” he said. “Therefore, when looking at the components of a vaccine, you need to look at the amounts and take them into account.”

The active ingredient in Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is messenger RNA (mRNA). This is a small amount of genetic material that tells the body how to make the “peplomer” that is characteristic of the coronavirus.

The active ingredient in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is adenovirus, a family of viruses that cause the common cold. It has been modified to be harmless to convey the information needed to teach the body how to recognize peplomer proteins. Coronavirus to prevent infection.

Vaccine inert ingredients include a combination of lipids, salts, sugars, acids and acid stabilizers. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also contains a small amount of ethanol.

Salmon said that Pfizer and Moderna vaccine mRNAs do not alter your DNA. He attributed this common misconception to those who confuse mRNA with DNA. This is because the two acronyms sound similar, but they have completely different functions. Adenovirus also does not change our genetic code.

“”[The vaccines] It hasn’t changed your DNA. They contain a bit of viral mRNA that your body is reacting to, “he said. It gives something that reacts to your body, and then it just disappears. “

For Pfizer vaccines, the inert ingredients are lipids (a group of organic compounds including fats and oils), potassium chloride, potassium monobasic phosphate, sodium chloride, sodium dibasic phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose (sulose). Contains sugar). The inactive ingredients of Moderna are similar and include lipids, cholesterol, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate and sucrose.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine-inactive ingredients include citrate monohydrate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, ethanol, 2-hydroxypropyl-cyclodextrin (HBCD), polysorbate-80, and sodium chloride.

Contact Elizabeth Fite ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter @ ecfite.