March 19, 2021
As experts in toxicology, pharmacology, emergency medicine, and public health, the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT), American Academy of Emergency Medicine(AAEM), and the American College of Emergency Medicine (ACEP) highly recommend vaccination against COVID-19 with the currently authorized vaccines.
In December 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized two vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2) and (Moderna mRNA-1273) for prevention of COVID-19 [1,2]. Both vaccines are highly effective, preventing up to 95% of cases of symptomatic COVID-19. These vaccines contain mRNA (m stands for messenger), which is genetic material that contains instructions for making proteins. mRNA is not infectious, cannot cause COVID-19, and cannot become part of the permanent DNA genome. To promote mRNA stability and uptake after administration, the vaccines also contain salts, sugars, and lipids. Although the specific mRNA sequence in these COVID-19 vaccines is novel, other mRNA vaccines were first evaluated in the 1990s [3]. Following an unprecedented investment in resources, researchers have rapidly developed these vaccines without compromising scientific integrity or safety.
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