Discover the science behind our COVID-19 vaccines
Understanding mRNA-based vaccines and medicines for a variety of conditions, including COVID-19.
Your cells contain mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid), tiny molecules that give instructions to your cells to make the proteins your body needs. This affects many aspects of your biology, including health and disease
Our COVID-19 vaccines "teach" your cells how to make copies of spike proteins—which helps trigger an immune response that helps protect against a virus.
With the help of a vaccine, if you are exposed to the virus later, your body can identify it and defend against it
What is Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)?
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), unlike approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is an authority given only for public health emergencies. With EUA, the FDA has the power to authorize unapproved medical products (given that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives) to protect the public against certain threats.
This includes infectious diseases such as COVID‑19. The FDA decision is based on the totality of the scientific evidence available showing that the product may be effective to prevent COVID‑19 during the COVID‑19 pandemic and that the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product.
The Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine is authorized in people 6 months of age and older as a primary series. The Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine, Bivalent is authorized as a booster dose in people 6 months through 5 years of age at least 2 months after the Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine primary series and is authorized in people 6 years of age and older at least 2 months after any authorized or approved vaccine.
Committed to meeting an evolving need
COVID-19 has evolved. So have the Moderna mRNA vaccines. Moderna has responded to the global pandemic, and we remain committed to help protect the world from the evolving viral threat as new variants continue to emerge.
How mRNA has evolved with the experts at Moderna