Where did Vaccine Gangs come from?

Writer Casey Johnston posted the earliest known 'Team Pfizer' and 'Team Moderna' tweet on November 29, 2020.

What does Vaccine Gangs mean?

It refers to the tongue-in-cheek identification with a specific COVID shot brand, framed as gang or team membership, with users adding 'Pfizer Gang' or 'Moderna Gang' to display names.

How do you use Vaccine Gangs?

Posters commonly declare allegiance to their shot brand with sports or gang language, like Ashley Feinberg's 'ready to die for my Moderna brothers and sisters' tweet, or make image memes staging a confrontation between brand camps.

Is Vaccine Gangs still popular?

No. The joke peaked during the US vaccine rollout in spring 2021, with Twitter activity, iFunny and Reddit posts, plus Etsy merchandise clustered in April 2021.

Vaccine Gangs

Q: What is Vaccine Gangs?

Vaccine Gangs is a 2020-2021 joke rivalry between recipients of the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID shots, who declared tribal loyalty to their brand on Twitter.

2020catchphrasedead

Published October 20, 2026

Vaccine Gangs was a tongue-in-cheek COVID-era rivalry where recipients of Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca shots declared loyalty to their jab brand on Twitter in late 2020 and spring 2021. Writer Casey Johnston posted the first 'Team Pfizer' and 'Team Moderna' tweet on November 29, 2020, kicking off tribalism comparisons to Hogwarts houses and Pokémon GO teams. By April 2021, users were adding 'Pfizer Gang' to their display names and Etsy sellers were listing Pfizer house-crest mugs.

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Overview

Posts in the Vaccine Gangs format usually combined the writer's vaccine brand with team-sport or gang-loyalty language, 'ready to die for my Moderna brothers and sisters' being a representative line from journalist Ashley Feinberg2. The humor leaned on the arbitrary nature of which shot a person got, since appointment availability dictated allocation, not preference, and turning that random assignment into a tribal badge was the joke3.

The format spawned reaction images staging confrontations between brands, like iFunny posts picturing Pfizer Gang spotting the Moderna boys 'in the city'5. Memers also drew parallels to earlier fandom tribalism, with Twitter user @TrevorDmusic directly comparing the split to Pokémon GO's Team Mystic, Valor and Instinct choice4.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

Casey Johnston

Date

2020

Writer Casey Johnston posted the earliest documented 'Team Pfizer' versus 'Team Moderna' tweet on November 29, 20201. The joke stayed small over the following months, picking up momentum only once the US vaccine rollout widened in spring 2021 and more people had an actual brand to represent3.

How It Spread

As the US vaccine rollout widened through spring 2021, the gag picked up volume. On April 6, 2021, journalist Ashley Feinberg tweeted that she was 'ready to die' for her 'Moderna brothers and sisters,' collecting over 460 retweets and 11,000 likes2. Days later Twitter user @TrevorDmusic argued the brand rivalry mirrored the Pokémon GO team split4.

The gag then moved into image memes. An iFunny post dated April 11, 2021, showed a scene captioned 'when the Pfizer gang see the Moderna boys in the city,' hitting over 120 likes5. The next day, Redditor Zack_Brangan posted a Bleach-based riff asking 'which vaccine shot are you getting, choose wisely' to r/Bleach, where it collected over 1,400 points6.

Merchandise followed. Etsy sellers began listing 'Team Pfizer' vaccinated shirts7 and Hogwarts-style Pfizer house-crest mugs8, turning the inside joke into gift-shop material. Users also added 'Pfizer Gang' or 'Moderna Gang' tags to their Twitter display names during this stretch3.

Timeline

2020-11-29

Writer Casey Johnston posts the earliest known 'Team Pfizer' vs 'Team Moderna' tweet.

2021-04-06

Ashley Feinberg's 'ready to die for my Moderna brothers and sisters' tweet collects 11,000+ likes.

2021-04-07

@TrevorDmusic compares the brand rivalry to Pokémon GO's team split.

2021-04-11

IFunny reaction image stages a Pfizer Gang vs Moderna boys confrontation.

2021-04-12

Redditor Zack_Brangan posts a Bleach-themed vaccine-pick meme to r/Bleach.

2021

Etsy sellers list Team Pfizer shirts and Pfizer house-crest mugs.

How to Use This Meme

Vaccine Gangs posts typically declare allegiance to a specific COVID shot brand using sports or gang vocabulary, often by adding 'Pfizer Gang' or 'Moderna Gang' to a Twitter display name. Image-meme versions commonly stage a confrontation between brand camps, borrowing templates from anime or action films to picture the standoff.