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Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccines

David Erskine, Director, London Medicines Information Services, Specialist Pharmacy ServicePublished
Topics: All vaccines: Handling multiple vaccines

Each COVID-19 Vaccine has different nomenclature specific to the vaccine and the context of use.

This article forms part of a series
  1. Safe practice for handling multiple COVID-19 Vaccines
    1. Good governance guidance when handling multiple COVID-19 vaccines
    2. Summary of the key differences between COVID-19 vaccines
    3. Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccines
    4. Minimising the risk of administration of the wrong COVID-19 vaccine
    5. Checklist for safety briefing when using multiple COVID-19 vaccines
    6. Checklist for pharmaceutical oversight when using multiple COVID-19 vaccines
    7. Checklists for setting-up and clearing down of COVID-19 vaccination stations
Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech
    1. The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:
    2. The COVID vaccine approved name is:
    3. The COVID vaccine commonly used names is:
  3. Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
    1. The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:
    2. The COVID vaccine approved name is:
    3. The COVID vaccine commonly used names are:
  4. Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna
    1. The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:
    2. The COVID vaccine approved name is:
    3. The COVID vaccine commonly used name is:

Introduction

Vaccine nomenclature for each vaccine is summarised below.

For training and communication purposes the manufacturer’s name should be used; for computer records the approved name is the standard.

Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech

The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:

COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech

The COVID vaccine approved name is:

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2

The COVID vaccine commonly used names is:

The Pfizer vaccine

Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca

The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:

COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca

The COVID vaccine approved name is:

COVID-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1 S [recombinant])

The COVID vaccine commonly used names are:

The Oxford vaccine or the AZ Oxford vaccine

Nomenclature for COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna

The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s name is:

COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna

The COVID vaccine approved name is:

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine (nucleoside modified)

The COVID vaccine commonly used name is:

Moderna vaccine