Misinformation about the COVID-19 Vaccine and Fertility

As a double board-certified reproductive endocrinologist, I’ve been helping people build families for over 15 years. Trying to create a family is stressful alone, and the pandemic has amplified challenges for the fertility community.

In my eyes, we’ve been fighting two pandemics: the COVID-19 pandemic and the medical misinformation pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is global in size and medical in nature, leading to illness, hospitalizations, and death. The medical misinformation pandemic has created rumors and fear.

And my patients have been right in the middle of both.

I’ve witnessed patients trying so hard to do everything right. They’ve been ready to conceive and optimize their fertility. They’ve been vulnerable and open about their dreams of building families. They’ve been vulnerable in the face of miscarriage and infertility. Everything choice has become politicized and polarizing, and I’ve found that many patients are stuck with indecision.

If you or someone you love are part of the fertility community, I hope this blog post and YouTube video might help shed light on how we got to where we are today with misinformation about COVID-19.

Studies show that the COVID-19 vaccine keeps pregnant women safe, yet pregnant women are one of the lowest vaccinated populations. 

According to the CDC, in the United States, over 80% of eligible people (ages 5 and older) have gotten at least one vaccine, and over 65% of eligible people are fully vaccinated. In pregnant women, only 40% are fully vaccinated. 

Pregnant women are more vulnerable to viruses. We know that pregnant women with measles, chickenpox, and COVID-19 are at higher risk of ICU admission, severe disease, and even death. If someone contracts COVID-19 when they’re pregnant, being vaccinated will decrease the risk of these severe outcomes.

Fear is the number one reason pregnant women say they haven’t gotten vaccinated. 

As soon as the vaccine was available, rumors began about the vaccine’s impact on fertility. 

The misinformation began in December 2020 with a petition by a former Pfizer scientist. In this petition, he recommended stopping vaccine trials due to the potential risk that these vaccines might affect fertility. The argument was that the vaccine might trigger a response from the body to attack the protein Syncytin-1, which might affect fertility.

For background: There’s a protein on the surface of the COVID-19 virus called a spike protein, which impacts our health and bodily functions once it gets in our bodies. The COVID-19 vaccine also uses a spike protein to help our bodies recognize and fight the virus. The spike protein’s amino acids are similar to that of the placenta, and the (unfounded) worry was that the body would attack the placenta after vaccination. 

This theoretical risk is not a reality. The overlap of amino acids is minimal. Unfortunately, as soon as this information was put online, it spread like wildfire despite scientists and other researchers explaining that the amino acid similarity is not an issue. 

However, the tiny seed of doubt and fear exploded, particularly in the fertility community.

Evidence says that the COVID-19 vaccine does not impact male fertility or female fertility miscarriage rates, but a COVID-19 infection can have harmful effects. 

The COVID-19 vaccine does not have a negative impact on fertility for both men and women. However, the COVID-19 virus does cause harm to pregnant women, and receiving a COVID-19 vaccination decreases the harmful effects of a COVID-19 infection. Please see my other blog posts and Youtube videos on this topic for detailed reviews of studies and links to references with data.

Social media is full of misinformation, and medical information about fertility has been abundant in this pandemic. People are still scared to get the vaccine because of this initial amplified rumor.

Fear spreads faster than facts on social media…

…And unfortunately, the victims of medical information are people not getting treatment that will prevent severe issues from COVID-19. 

These doubts, rumors, and decisions are genuine for my patients. I hope you understand the amount of evidence we have now shows that the vaccine does not change sperm counts, does not cause female fertility, and does not increase the risk of miscarriage. If you are vaccinated, you will decrease the chances of ICU admission, severe disease, and even death from COVID-19. A simple question within an online petition, not based on medical fact, has led to vaccine hesitancy, ultimately harming people. 

Please comment on my YouTube video on this topic if you have any questions.