A second vaccine, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, was granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on Friday, December 18, 2020.
FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. stated in a press release that, “Through the FDA’s open and transparent scientific review process, two COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized in an expedited timeframe while adhering to the rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization that the American people have come to expect from the FDA.”
The combination of the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine increases the total available number of vaccines to the most at risk citizens, health care practitioners and first responders.
An injection plus a second one twenty-seven days later is required to build proper immunity against COVID-19.
The vaccine is based on the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (S) antigen encoded by RNA and formulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs).
The spike glycoprotein (S) antigen is all over the surface of the virus, and it will bind to a host cell. Then it begins to allow the viral cell entry.
BUT, with the mRNA type vaccines, there is no virus to enter the cell. Instead what happens is our cells learn that the spike protein is bad and should not be in our body.
So our body’s defense mechanisms make antibodies that attack the COVID-19 virus and then destroy it.
During the ongoing Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, trial of the vaccination of approximately 30,000 people, the results found that only five people who received the vaccine became infected as opposed to the ninety who were given a placebo.
If you receive a vaccination, tell your provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:
–have any allergies
–have a fever
–have a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinner
–are immunocompromised or are on a medicine that affects your immune system
–are pregnant or plan to become pregnant
–are breastfeeding
–have received another COVID-19 vaccine
Anyone who has had a severe reaction to the initial dose of this vaccination, or any of the ingredients, should not take it.
Reactions where the shot is given can include: pain, tenderness and swelling of the lymph nodes in the same arm of the injection, swelling (hardness), and redness.
Some general side effects from the vaccination are as follows: fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, chills, nausea and vomiting and fever.
Any more severe reactions, contact your vaccination provider and/or your medical provider.
