New Research Found COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Affect Fertility
MIAMI (CBS) - Pregnant people are at increased risk for severe illness from the coronavirus, which is why doctors recommended they receive the COVID vaccine. But some have concerns about getting vaccinated and conceiving now or later.
New research is adding to the evidence that the vaccine does not affect fertility.
"There's a lot of anxiety that has occurred around vaccination, around COVID in general, so we need to manage the anxiety by giving people back control. And we do that with good, old-fashioned information," says Dr. Alan Copperman with Icahn Mount Sinai and RMA of New York.
In one of the largest studies to date, Dr. Copperman and researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai looked at patients going through IVF, vaccinated and unvaccinated.
"We compared outcome, how many eggs, how many embryos, whether or not they got pregnant. And fortunately, we found no difference whether or not a patient was vaccinated or not, and whether or not she got pregnant," Dr. Copperman said.
Another study found vaccination in either partner does not reduce fertility. But COVID-19 infection in men, especially severe disease, may temporarily reduce fertility.
"The vaccine can prevent almost all cases of severe COVID, and we can prevent male infertility, and we could promote health and wellness for female fertility, all by giving the vaccine to reproductive-age people," Dr. Cooperman said.
Sarah Ekis was a mom to a one-year-old when she got the COVID-19 vaccine last year. She was also newly pregnant with a baby conceived through IVF but unfortunately had a late miscarriage. The 41-year-old was due for her booster shot when she and her partner decided to try again, so she got her shot before her egg transfer.
"I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to keep the baby safe. And then again, if I could send, you know, have those antibodies passed to the baby, that would be helpful as well," Ekis said.
She runs an infertility support group.
"I think having this research is gonna be really important to reassure women going through treatments," said Ekis who is now 14 weeks pregnant and due in July.
Previous studies have also found that the COVID-19 vaccine did not raise the risk of preterm birth or fetal growth problems.