• No. mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, do not contain any live virus. Instead, they teach our cells to make harmless “spike proteins,” which are found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. When the immune system recognizes the proteins, it generates antibodies and builds an immune response against them. This prepares the body to fight against future infection. [CDC, accessed 9/9/2021]