Moderna COVID-19 vaccine's safety slightly bests Pfizer's

An observational study today in JAMA Internal Medicine reports a slightly better safety profile for the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine than for the Pfizer/BioNTech version in US veterans, but both vaccines had very good safety profiles. A team led by Harvard University researchers reviewed the electronic health records of 433,672 US Department of Veterans Affairs patients across the country who received their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Jan 4 to Sep 20, 2021, with a second dose scheduled for 21 to 28 days later, depending on the vaccine. Median patient age was 69 years, 93% were men, 20% were Black, and 8% were Hispanic. Median follow-up was 223 days.