How does the vaccine work?
All of the COVID-19 vaccines teach your body’s immune system how to fight the virus and protect you from getting sick if you are exposed to COVID-19.
The vaccines cannot give you COVID-19.
The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are both known as mRNA vaccines. mRNA vaccines teach your cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response. Once triggered, your body then makes antibodies. These antibodies help you fight the infection if the real virus does enter your body in the future. Both vaccines are given in 2 doses.
The AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are viral vector vaccines. They use a harmless virus that carries information to teach your cells how to make the spike protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. The vaccines cannot give you COVID-19 and is given in 1 or 2 doses.