Aspirus staff receive COVID-19 vaccines

The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-Biontech now going into the arms of Aspirus and other health care workers is a new kind of vaccine, known as mRNA.

A press release from Aspirus notes many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies to trigger an immune response. The immune response produces antibodies and protects a person from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies, the release said.

In contrast, mRNA vaccines “teach our cells how to make a protein — or even just a piece of a protein — that triggers an immune response inside our bodies,” the release added.