Currently, three vaccines are authorized and recommended in the COVID-19 United States to prevent COVID-19. Vaccines Pfizer-BioNTech In Arizona Moderna Difference between COVID-19 Vaccines All currently authorized and recommended COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and reduce your risk of severe illness. Johnson & ADHS does not recommend one vaccine over another and Johnson’s Janssen recommends getting the first vaccine available to you, regardless of the brand.

Vaccine Who can get How Many Shots When Are You Brand Name this vaccine1 You Will Need Fully Vaccinated?

Pfizer-BioNTech People 12 years 2 shots 2 weeks after and older Given 3 weeks your second shot (21 days) apart2

Moderna People 12 years 2 shots 2 weeks after and older Given 4 weeks your second shot (28 days) apart2

Johnson & People 18 years 1 shot 2 weeks after Johnson’s Janssen and older your shot

1 If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction to any ingredient in the vaccine you are scheduled to receive, you should not get that vaccine. If you have been instructed not to get one type of COVID-19 vaccine, you may still be able to get another type. Learn more information for people with allergies.

2 You should get your second shot as close to the recommended 3-week or 4-week interval as possible. However, your second shot may be given up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose, if necessary. Your second shot should be from the same manufacturer as your first dose; for example, if you receive Moderna for your first dose, you should receive Moderna for your second shot.

azhealth.gov/covid19vaccines Types of vaccines Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work Vaccines help our bodies learn how to fight infection without having to first have the illness. For COVID-19, the vaccine teaches our body how to build protection from the virus that causes COVID-19, which creates immunity. It does this by creating a supply of “memory cells” that know how to quickly fight infection if the virus that causes COVID-19 enters the body.

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines A Messenger RNA vaccine, also known as an mRNA vaccine, works by giving our cells “instructions” to make a protein that triggers an immune response. The immune response produces antibodies that protect us from getting infected if the virus that causes COVID-19 enters the body. mRNA vaccines do NOT include the live virus that causes COVID-19, so getting the vaccine cannot cause someone to get sick with COVID-19. For mNRA COVID-19 vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines.

Viral Vector COVID-19 Vaccines A viral vector vaccine uses a harmless version of a different virus, called a “vector,” to give the body information on how to protect itself. The vaccine teaches the body how to make copies of spike proteins, which are crown-like spikes on the surface of coronaviruses. They are ideal targets for vaccines, VECTOR since the body, if exposed to the real virus later, will recognize it and know how to fight it off. The vaccine does NOT contain the virus that causes COVID-19, and it cannot make you sick from the virus that it uses as the vector. The Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is a viral vector vaccine.

azhealth.gov/covid19vaccines