We know many of you still have plenty of questions about the #CovidVaccinations that are available. We’ve got 2 updates for you today in this #thread 1/10

In the last hour, the Moderna vaccine has been approved for use in the UK. The government has ordered 17 million doses but they might not be available until Spring 2/10

The Moderna vaccine is similar to the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. It has to be stored at very cold temperatures (although not quite as cold as the Pfizer one), meaning it might be difficult to use outside hospitals 3/10

The Moderna vaccine is also an mRNA vaccine, which delivers a small part of COVID-19 genetic code into your body. This gets turned into proteins, which your body reacts to. 4/10

As well as the news of the latest approved vaccine, we have also had lots of questions about whether the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is a live vaccine or not.

It is not a live vaccine. 5/10

The Oxford vaccine is different from the other two approved. It is a viral vector vaccine, which means there is a virus in it that carries part of the COVID virus into the body. 6/10

This works because you don’t need to have the whole #COVID virus in your body to have an immune reaction; your immune system looks for certain things on the COVID-19 virus to react to. 7/10

The Oxford vaccine carries COVID-19 proteins in a virus called an adenovirus. This virus normally causes colds in monkeys, but it has been modified to have some COVID-19 information and has had genes removed that usually allow it to replicate. 8/10

So while the Oxford does contain whole virus particles, it can’t replicate itself and it can’t make you ill. It cannot make COVID-19 viruses. You won’t get a cold or COVID from the Oxford vaccine. 9/10

Therefore, please have the vaccine if you are invited to receive it. Both the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines are considered safe based on the information currently available and neither is better than the other at the moment. 10/10

For more information, please see our blog here > https://bit.ly/COVID-19VaccineFAQ

We are also hosting an online webinar with @LymphomaAction on the COVID-19 vaccines. Register online here > https://bit.ly/3odJPil