...Both vaccines seemed to reduce the risk of severe Covid disease. It’s not yet known if either prevents asymptomatic infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nor is it known if vaccinated people can transmit the virus if they do become infected but don’t show symptoms.
...Both the Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines require two shots: a priming dose, followed by a booster shot. The interval between Moderna doses is 28 days; for the Pfizer vaccine, it’s 21 days.
Each dose of Pfizer’s contains 30 micrograms of vaccine. Moderna went with a much larger dose of vaccine, 100 micrograms. It means it is using a little more than three times as much vaccine per person as Pfizer is. And yet, they aren’t getting better results.
...Both these vaccines — in fact, most if not all the Covid-19 vaccines that have reported data so far — fall into the reactogenic category.
..younger adults, who have more robust immune systems, reported more side effects than older adults.
...Both of these vaccines require an elaborate cold chain, ....But the Moderna vaccine will be far easier to use than Pfizer’s. For starters, Moderna’s must be shipped at -4 Fahrenheit; Pfizer’s must be shipped and stored at -94 Fahrenheit. The former is the temperature of a regular refrigerator freezer; the latter requires special ultra-cold freezers that need to be topped up with dry ice every five days. Doctors’ offices do not have ultracold freezers; neighborhood pharmacies don’t either.
...Pfizer vaccine. The minimum amount of vaccine a location can order is 975 doses.....here are plenty of places across the country that don’t need 975 doses to vaccinate the people currently eligible for vaccination — health workers and nursing home residents. This is the vaccine that needs to be kept at -94 F. The minimum order size will limit the locations in which this vaccine can be used.
The Moderna vaccine’s minimum order is 100 doses, a much more manageable number.
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