The Covid-19 vaccine does not cause infertility. Here’s why people think so.

As the first weeks of the Covid-19 vaccines conclude, many of those who have received it, whether it is the one made by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, have posted selfies as they empty themselves on social media and are offering games -Play details of side effects. Most vaccine recipients, who have been primarily healthcare workers during these first few weeks of vaccine distribution, have reported arm pain for one day. Some reported fever, chills, fatigue, and headache, also for a day or less. There have been rare cases of serious allergic reactions, but even those were addressed and treated. For the vast majority, these minor symptoms pale in comparison to feelings of elation, optimism, relief, and vision of the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

In the photo below is Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist and virologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, receiving his Covid-19 vaccine.

But those who are trying to conceive or are considering pregnancy and / or in vitro fertilization (IVF) have concerns that vaccines could affect fertility or lead to fetal loss. This concern has morphed into a whirlwind of social media tradition that the vaccine should not be given to women considering conceiving. How can a vaccine that prevents a respiratory disease cause infertility? Well, it won’t, but several social media posts falsely claiming they were claiming a link between the spike protein formed by receiving mRNA-based vaccines and blocking a protein necessary for the formation and adherence to the uterus of the placenta. human. Using scientific terms such as the specific name of the protein, syncytin-1, placenta, antibodies, and sterilization, the science-sounding false claims quickly became science fiction.

The protein syncytin-1 is essential for the placenta to remain attached to the uterus and act as a source of nutrition and blood supply to the fetus during pregnancy, but this is not the protein known as Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2, protein peak. The two share some similar amino acids, but they are not the same proteins. Absolutely. Antibodies produced against the Covid-19 spike protein will not block syncytin-1. While the Covid-19 spike protein shares several amino acids in common with syncytin-1, it is not similar enough (in fact, not even similar enough) for antibodies to recognize and block this critical placental binding protein. .

During the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine study, there were 23 study participants who became pregnant during the vaccine trial. There was a pregnancy loss, but it was in one participant who received the placebo, not the vaccine.

While there is no evidence that acute Covid-19 infections cause infertility in the short or long term, there has been evidence that acute viral infection can lead to orchitis or inflammation of the testicles. This would not be unique to SARS-CoV-2, like other viruses like mumps, hepatitis, and the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). As reported in Forbes By Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, the presence of ACE2 receptors in the testes may mean that the virus has a tendency to settle in the scrotal sac.

The FDA’s initial report on vaccine safety and the recommendations for the two newly released mRNA vaccines included pregnant and lactating women, as well as women seeking to conceive, as part of the group who would recommend receiving the vaccine in the first phase. Deploy health workers.

Pregnant women who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 infections have had an especially difficult course and some have died and / or suffered fetal loss as a result of acute Covid-19 infections. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends vaccinating this group of pregnant and lactating women. In addition, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), which provides education, research and advocacy for high-risk pregnant women and their babies, recommended the administration of Covid-19 to pregnant health workers in its statement of 1 December 2020.

As the Covid-19 vaccine continues to become increasingly available to front-line workers and eventually the elderly at risk population followed by the general population, reading the science of vaccines, not the science, remains critical. Vaccine fiction.