Vietnam to mix Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines

Vietnam’s health ministry will offer the coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech as a second dose option for people first inoculated with the Moderna vaccine, state media reported on Wednesday.

The ministry had approved the mixed regimen, which is due to low supplies of the Moderna vaccine. Both vaccines are of the Messenger RNA (mRNA) type.

Related: Mixing CanSino, Sinovac COVID shots induces stronger response: study

Q&A about Pfizer’s COVID vaccine

What are the ingredients in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine?

The ingredients are mRNA, lipids (hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-diyl)bis(hexyldecanoate), [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, Distearoyl-sn-glycero-phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose.

How does an mRNA vaccine work?

mRNA, delivered to your body’s cells by lipid nanoparticles, instructs the cells to generate the spike protein found on the surface of the novel coronavirus that initiates infection.1,2 Instructing cells to generate the spike protein spurs an immune response, including generation of antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

mRNA vaccines do not contain any virus particles, meaning that they don’t contain weakened or dead parts of a virus or bacterium.

Do mRNA vaccines change a person’s DNA?

mRNA is a transient carrier of information that does not integrate into human DNA. mRNA does not enter a cell’s nucleus, which is where our DNA is kept.