Worried about COVID-19 vaccine ingredients? Here are the facts.

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1. Does the COVID-19 vaccine contain fetal cells?

No. Neither of the vaccines in the U.S. (Pfizer nor the Moderna) use any fetal cells in production, testing or as an ingredient.

Older vaccines for things like rubella, rabies, polio, measles, chickenpox and shingles were developed using fetal “cell lines” from the 1960s in the testing process.

According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham: “Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine uses cell lines that originated in fetal tissue taken from the body of an aborted baby at any stage of design, development or production.”

2. Does the COVID-19 vaccine contain formaldehyde?

Nope. Formaldehyde is not used in production, or as an ingredient.

Fun fact, though: Some vaccines, like the flu shot do have a teeny tiny amount of formaldehyde. But a pear naturally contains 50 times that amount. So… eat one pear, and you’ll get 50 times the amount of formaldehyde you get from your shots.

3. Does the COVID-19 vaccine contain mercury?

No. Like the formaldehyde thing, previous vaccines have used miniscule, safe amounts of mercury as a preservative–but neither of the available COVID-19 vaccines have it.

4. Does the COVID-19 vaccine contain microchips?

There are NO microchips in ANY vaccine. There was a proposal to add a chip to the LABEL OF THE BOTTLE to keep track of inventory – like they do at the supermarket, but they didn’t do it.

The only proposed use of a microchip with the vaccine was on the label of the bottle–like they do at supermarkets to keep track of inventory.

5. Can mRNA alter my DNA?​

No. mRNA doesn’t easily interact with DNA.  And the tiny fragment of mRNA in the vaccine definitely can’t.

6. What is mRNA, anyway?​

mRNA is what viruses have instead of DNA. The vaccine uses a tiny segment of virus mRNA to train your immune system. It can’t give you the virus.

Some COVID-19 vaccines use a tiny fraction of  SARS-CoV-2 mRNA. It’s like showing your cells a picture of a venomous spider and saying, “See this thing? It’s super dangerous, so if you see it, kill it on sight.” Once the cells have the instructions, the mRNA is broken down by the body within 72 hours.

See also: Will I have an allergic reaction? Unlikely.

NOTE: We use the best available information at the time we publish. We will update specific statistics as new information is published by authoritative sources.

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Not sure about the vaccine?

Talk to your doctor.

Don’t have one?

Call the CDC hotline.

Get honest answers to your questions.
Available in many languages.
1-800-232-0233
TTY 1-888-720-7489
Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL):
1-888-677-1199
DIAL@n4a.org

Ready?
Find a vaccine near you:

Not sure about the vaccine?
Talk to your doctor.

Ready?
Find a vaccine near you: