Covid vaccines won’t stop people getting pregnant

A post in a Facebook group says “I don’t know why people are freaking out about Roe v Wade …. Most likely if you took the jab it will not matter … you probably won’t be able to get pregnant”.

Another post with a picture of a woman receiving an injection in her arm, says “Relax There’s a good chance you can’t get pregnant anymore anyways”.

Both were posted in a Facebook group called “Covid 19 Adverse Reactions Group”, so it seems to be referring to the Covid-19 vaccine.

There’s no evidence that getting a Covid-19 vaccine can stop you getting pregnant or reduce fertility.

The first post mentions Roe v Wade, the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling which made abortion legal in the first trimester across the country. On 24 June it was overturned by the US Supreme Court, meaning individual states can now decide whether to allow abortions and how. 

What do we know about fertility and vaccination?

People have been making claims like this since the vaccine roll-out began. We’ve checked false claims that the vaccine causes an immune response that trains the body to attack a protein in the placenta, that nanoparticles in certain vaccines can affect fertility and that vaccinated people can spread fertility issues to those who haven’t been vaccinated. All of these are wrong.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) says “There is no biologically plausible mechanism by which current vaccines would cause any impact on women’s fertility” and recommends that women planning to become pregnant should get vaccinated.

The British Fertility Society says “There is no evidence, and no theoretical reason, that any of the vaccines can affect the fertility of women or men.” We have written previously about whether those undergoing fertility treatment can have the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says it is reviewing reports of period problems following Covid-19 vaccinations, but to date the data “does not support a link between changes to menstrual periods and related symptoms and COVID-19 vaccines”.

It added: “There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines will affect fertility and your ability to have children.”

Image courtesy of SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH