So far, two COVID-19 vaccines are available in Poland - ultimately there will be five of them. They are produced by various companies - the Pfizer / BioNTech consortium and Moderna. But that is by no means the only difference. Although the patient will not be able to choose which vaccine to get vaccinated, it is worth knowing the difference between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccinesapproved for use in the European Union is a preparation called Comirnaty, produced by a consortium of Pfizer and BioNTech, and a preparation by Moderna. Both vaccines are already available in Poland. According to PAP, on Tuesday, January 12, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it had received a request for conditional approval of the third COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford - an opinion on this vaccine will probably be issued on January 29. For now, however, it is not known when the third vaccine will reach Poland.
COVID-19 Vaccines - Similarities
How are both preparations similar to each other? First of all,they are linked by the mechanism of action- the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine are mRNA preparations. The technology on the basis of which they were created has been developed for many years, incl. in cancer therapy.
President of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products, Grzegorz Cessak, in a recent interview with PAP, explained that mRNA vaccines contain "instructions" for creating a protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, to which our body responds by forming antibodies.
Both vaccines are administered intramuscularly. They also havesimilar effectiveness , which is around 95%.
There are also similarside effects- usually headache, joint and muscle pain, fatigue, chills, fever, redness at the injection site, and nausea.
COVID-19 vaccines - differences
What are the differences between COVID-19 vaccines? In an interview with PAP, Grzegorz Cessak pointed out that the differences between the two medicinal products are actually small and mainly rely on the content of excipients, which results in slightly less restrictiveModerna vaccine storage conditions.
One of the most important is storage.Comirnata vaccine developed by Pfizer / BioNTech can be stored for six months at temperatures ranging from -90 degrees C to -60 degrees C. After removing from the freezer, the factory-sealed vaccine can be stored before use for no longer than 5 days at a temperature of 2 degrees C to 8 degrees C and for a maximum of 2 hours at a temperature of up to 30 degrees C.
In turn, the Moderna vaccine can be kept for seven months at a temperature from -25 degrees C to -15 degrees C. Unopened, it can be stored in a refrigerator at a temperature of 2 degrees C to 8 degrees C, protected from light for a maximum of 30 days. The unopened vaccine can be stored at 8 degrees C to 25 degrees C for a maximum of 12 hours.
Comirnata vaccine must be diluted before use - in the case of the Moderna vaccine there is no need to do so.
One vial of Moderna vaccine gives ten doses - almost twice as much as a vial of Comirnata.
Age recommendations are also different.Comirnata vaccine can be administered to people from 16 years of age, and Moderna vaccine to people from 18 years of age. The difference is due to the age of the people who underwent clinical trials.
The interval between successive doses of the vaccine is also different:in the case of Comirnata, the interval between the first and second doses should be at least 21 days, and 28 days with the Moderny preparation.
SOURCE: PAP