evidence: Experts say the ingredients in the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, which was authorized Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, looks pretty standard for a vaccine. [...] Active ingredient - 30 mcg of a nucleosidemodified messenger RNA (modRNA) encoding the viral spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. [...] The only active ingredient in the vaccine is the messenger RNA encoding the viral spike of SARS-CoV-2. That describes the modified mRNA that contains the code for cells to make the spike protein specific to the virus that will help create antibodies to attack it.