What is in Moderna's COVID Vaccine?
Recently, Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use in the United States. It has also been approved by Europe and other places across the world who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna’s vaccine is one of the two major vaccines being distributed in the United States as of right now, the other being Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine. Doses of Moderna’s vaccine are available to those who are 18 years of age or older. Due to the limited nature of the vaccines, high risk individuals and healthcare workers are being prioritized. At the moment, at least 11.5% of the U.S. population has received some type of COVID-19 vaccination. While we see the numbers going up, there are still many fighting the vaccine. They are unsure of what is in it or do not understand how it works. This article aims to explain all the ingredients in the vaccine, and how they work together to protect our bodies against the COVID-19 virus.
Before we examine the ingredients of the vaccine, we must define and determine a few important molecules in biology. These molecules work very similar to the ingredients in Pfizer’s vaccine. First, mRNA. Your body is essentially run by proteins: molecules which help in digestion, energy creation, and everyday activities are made up of proteins. Your body makes these proteins in cells by translating a strand of compounds that are called mRNA. You can think of mRNA like a recipe book; your body reads this recipe book and uses ingredients to create a protein. Second, lipids. Lipids are organic compounds that are used by the body to make important molecules like fat and hormones. Finally, the rest of the ingredients (tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate, and sucrose) are acids, salts, or sugars.
The mechanism of action, AKA the way this vaccine prevents COVID-19, is very similar to Pfizer’s vaccine. It harnesses our own immune system to fight against the virus. mRNA from the vaccine is delivered to our body’s cells through injection. Then, our cells will use the mRNA as a set of instructions to create the “spike protein” that is unique to COVID-19 viral cells. Once it does that, our body will realize that the spike protein is a foreign molecule and it will create memory cells and antibodies. There are two doses of the vaccine because the second time that the vaccine is administered, the body will recognize that the spike protein is present, and will create even more memory cells and antibodies. Thus, if we get exposed to COVID-19 after two doses of the vaccine, our immune system will recognize that the COVID-19 viral cells have the spike protein, and will immediately kill the viral cells, preventing infection.
The acids, salts, and sugars that were described before are not used in the process described above. Instead, they are used to stabilize the dose and ensure that the mRNA stays the way it is supposed to be. These ingredients are also supposed to make sure that the solution does not become harmful or unusable in any way. You can almost think of it like bubble wrap around glass; it keeps it safe and out of harm's way.
All of the ingredients described should not be harmful to the average person. The hope is that we can vaccinate everyone without any complications or long-term effects. The general side effects that Moderna’s vaccine produces are consistent with what is happening in your body. As we move farther and farther into this pandemic, we can only continue watching the vaccination process and hope it ends the COVID-19 pandemic once and for all.
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/Moderna.html
https://www.fda.gov/media/144638/download
https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/you-asked-we-answered-are-covid-19-vaccine-ingredients-public