Breaking Down mRNA Vaccines

Answers provided by Brian Kriete, MD, a Phelps Health ENT (ear, nose and throat) physician and medical director of surgical services at Phelps Health, and Cory Offutt, MD, a Phelps Health family medicine physician.

Phelps Health has begun administering doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the last couple of weeks. For those who want more information about mRNA vaccines before being vaccinated, here’s a primer.

What is mRNA?

The COVID-19 vaccine, made from messenger RNA (mRNA), is created differently from how vaccines have been made in the past. RNA is a blueprint [set of instructions] from our DNA and is used to create proteins like insulin, muscle proteins, enzymes, collagen and other molecules that are essential for human life.

– Dr. Brian Kriete, Phelps Health ENT physician and medical director of surgical services

How does mRNA work?

mRNA vaccines provide instructions for your body to make its own vaccine. They [mRNA vaccines] help your body code for part of the spike protein that is on COVID-19. Once the spike protein is formed, that's the part your immune system recognizes and forms antibodies against.

– Dr. Cory Offutt, family medicine physician

Why should I trust mRNA vaccines?

Researchers and physicians have dedicated their lives to studying these [virus] issues, so you couldn't have found a better group of people to review the results of the vaccine studies. The bottom line is that advances in molecular biology and vaccine development over the last five years have led to record development and approval of the COVID-19 vaccine. The process was not rushed; it was reviewed and approved by leading experts in the field. I have complete confidence in the vaccine and have received it myself.

– Dr. Brian Kriete, Phelps Health ENT physician and medical director of surgical services