evidence: Most people are getting the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines, which use genetic technology. Will they change my DNA? You’re right that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use genetic technology and are messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines. mRNA provides instructions to your cells to make certain proteins. But interestingly, this technology was studied to protect against other infections, including Ebola and other coronaviruses, long before there was even an illness called COVID-19. This is partially why these vaccines could be so quickly developed to protect against the COVID-19 virus. A lot of people are worried that because these vaccines use genetic technology, they might have long-term side effects or even change genes. But that’s not how these vaccines work. These vaccines are made up of a tiny piece of mRNA that triggers your own cells to make the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19. This protein provokes an immune response and gets your immune system ready to respond if the COVID-19 virus and its spike protein enter your body.