One of the big concerns I’ve seen in Catholic circles is that the COVID vaccines will make women infertile.
It’s very understandable why this is a concern. Catholics value the gift of life, and we recognize that infertility is a cross (see Amy Brooks’s post on infertility and this Aleteia article).
Women, particularly women of color, struggle to receive appropriate medical care in general, and in particular, when it comes to our reproductive health. We as Catholics are all too familiar with the condescending remarks about our use of Natural Family Planning. It makes sense that we would be particularly protective of this aspect of our health as we have been forced to become advocates for ourselves (or get our husbands to speak up for us).
What I’m trying to say is that it is absolutely reasonable to be concerned about the long-term health implications of the COVID vaccines, especially when it comes to our fertility.
The reality is that we won’t know for a while what impact (if any) the vaccine will have on fertility. However, when we review the information they do know about the vaccine, our vast medical knowledge, and listen to experts making evidence-based statements, we can find comfort in the fact that it is extremely unlikely that any COVID vaccine will impact our fertility.
Note: the information in this post primarily relates to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Misinformation Being Spread
Though I imagine there are many sources of information floating around, there are three in particular that I’ve encountered.
(Side note: I talk about evaluating information sources in an earlier post)
Phoenix Video
There is a video from Zed Phoenix. He claimed to have insider knowledge, but he used obviously false information about the vaccine development and supported his stances with decades-old research taken out of context. Reuters did a great fact-check with sources on the fertility claims in Phoenix’s video.
LifeSiteNews
They published a piece in December that was particularly troubling. I’ll go into more detail about all the problems with this article in a future post, but I’ll summarize the biggest issue here. They are building up fear based on a lack of information. Lack of data does not mean inherent danger.
That’s like me saying that there is no data showing that taking a nap attracts a swarm of hornets, but if napping did attract a swarm of hornets, we’d be in huge trouble. Don’t you know that hornets can sting multiple times and will sting until they feel safe? Don’t you know that a swarm of hornets can quickly become aggressive? WHY ARE WE LETTING PEOPLE TAKE NAPS WHEN THERE’S A POSSIBILITY OF HORNET SWARMS?
Dr. Michael Yeadon and Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg
They claim that there is the potential the vaccine could cause female sterility. I’ll expand on this a little more in my post about the LifeSiteNews article but simply put: these doctors have been called out by their peers for misinformation and their points are not based on science.
As for their actual claim that the similar proteins would cause the body to attack the placenta, you can read what other experts have to say about that later in this post.
Plus, a Conspiracy Theory
In addition to these factually inaccurate sources, there is also a conspiracy theory. They claim that administering the vaccine will be a way to make women infertile and have population control.
I think this theory is illogical.
Let’s stop and think about our culture.
Let’s think about how desperately our culture is trying to separate the procreative from the unitive when it comes to sex. I’d argue they are even trying to remove some of the unitive and are just focused on what “feels good.”
If scientists had somehow discovered a way to make people infertile with just a shot or two, they wouldn’t keep it secret. There would (unfortunately) be a huge demand for this product. They’d make an insane amount of money from this development.
It’s true that researchers have done extremely unethical and immoral trials that affected the participants’ fertility. However, these trials were done on vulnerable populations. It wouldn’t make sense to do this on a massive scale with people who have the power and means to retaliate if this was some scheme to render a bunch of people infertile.
There isn’t a good reason for them to hide some secret plan for population control when so many would willingly take a shot that would let them have sex without the “risk” of pregnancy.
The Truth
So, what do we actually know? We know that there is not good, scientific evidence supporting the claim that the vaccine will render women infertile because it will cause the body to attack the placenta.
ACOG recommends vaccination of individuals who are actively trying to become pregnant or are contemplating pregnancy and meet the criteria for vaccination based on ACIP prioritization recommendations. Additionally, it is not necessary to delay pregnancy after completing both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Given the mechanism of action and the safety profile of the vaccine in non-pregnant individuals, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are not thought to cause an increased risk of infertility.
Vaccinating Pregnant and Lactating Patients Against COVID-19
after again carefully considering the existing data relating to the dangers of COVID-19 during pregnancy, the risks of the mRNA vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer, and our understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms involved, we stand by our recommendation that pregnant women and those seeking to become pregnant should be vaccinated.
American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Position on COVID Vaccine Use in Pregnant Women
COVID-19 vaccine truths for patients desiring conception or who are pregnant include:
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE (ASRM) PATIENT
• Available data indicate that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility in women or men.
• In the randomized blinded Pfizer-BioNTech trial, a similar number of women conceived after receiving the vaccine as those who received the placebo.
• The coronavirus’s spike protein and syncytin-1 (protein that mediates placental cell fusion) share small stretches of the same genetic code but are otherwise completely different in structure. The vaccine does not induce an immune reaction against the syncytin-1 placental protein.
• mRNA vaccines are taken up rapidly by muscle cells at the injection site and the mRNA is degraded in the cell once the protein is made so it does not cross the placenta.
• COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for women who are contemplating pregnancy or who are pregnant in order to minimize risks to themselves and their pregnancy.
MANAGEMENT AND CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS DURING THE
CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that the vaccine could cause infertility in women. In addition, infertility is not known to occur as a result of natural COVID-19 disease, further demonstrating that immune responses to the virus, whether induced by infection or a vaccine, are not a cause of infertility. Reports on social media have falsely asserted that the vaccine could cause infertility in women and the FDA is concerned that this misinformation may cause women to avoid vaccination to prevent COVID-19, which is a potentially serious and life-threatening disease.
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions
(Note: I selected commentaries because I feel that they are easier to understand and explain the point more clearly. I highly recommend looking at any citations and researching the topic more if you feel that these are not reputable-enough sources).
The mRNA technology signals your body to produce a defense mechanism against COVID-19. But, the myth circulating is that the same proteins for the virus is the same proteins in the placenta and that the body will be confused – that’s not true. The myth is that your body will attack the placenta (and, then fertility) if you get the vaccine. Our bodies are smarter than that though. The placenta and COVID-19 do have similarities BUT they need LOTS more than that for the body to be confused. It’s like saying my house looks the same as my neighbors – but, the insides look totally different. That matters when it comes to our bodies and our bodies know the difference. Well done, immune systems! COVID-19 and the placenta spike proteins may look similar, but not similar enough (at all) for the body to cause infertility because you get a vaccine. I also want to point out that there are risks to your reproductive health (men and women) if you get COVID-19. So, the reproductive risks are higher with the real COVID infection than the vaccine.
Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist
someone has claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines are going to cause infertility because of a shared amino acid sequence in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and a placental protein, which will make the immune system attack both as it can’t tell the difference. The truth? This sequence is too short for the immune system to meaningfully confuse it with placental proteins. It’s sort of like saying that you are going to be confused with a criminal because you wear a commonly sold red bracelet that was also found on the criminal. It’s not realistic. If this were true, we would also expect COVID-19 to cause early pregnancy loss a significant amount of the time. The evidence available to us does not support that this is the case. There is no reasonable basis to believe that vaccines against COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 will affect fertility.
Are COVID-19 Vaccines Going To Cause Infertility? by Edward Nirenberg
This claim is unreasonable and not supported by the science. Spike and syncitin-1 are completely different proteins. They share a similarity of 4 amino acids out of 1,273 amino acids in the Spike protein. To call these proteins similar is like saying that two boys, one from Korea and the other from Denmark, are similar because they have dark brown eyes. These two boys may both have dark brown eyes but everything else is different about them. One has black hair, the other has blond hair. One is thin, the other is stout. One is 3 years old, the other is 18 years old. Yes, they may have dark brown eyes, but just sharing dark brown eyes does not make them similar in any significant sense. In the same way, four similar amino acids out of thousands do not make two proteins similar to each other.
A Priest-Scientist Responds to Concerns Raised by the Ramping Up of Vaccination Campaigns by Nicanor Austracio
Skeptical Raptor addresses this myth and several others in this article. (Note: There are some things that rubbed me the wrong way about the post from a Catholic perspective. This probably isn’t a good resource to share with anti-vaxxers as there is some uncharitable language.)
We also know that though this is a new type of vaccine, it isn’t a startlingly new concept. A lot of research went into developing this vaccine and reviewing the safety.
We also know that regulatory agencies in the US strive to make sure that approved treatments have benefits that outweigh the risks.
What Should I Do?
Ultimately, your decision should be based on the evidence available and a conversation with a healthcare professional.
A group of experts has created a decision-making guide to help those who are pregnant, lactating, or planning on becoming pregnant.
The CDC says that “[w]omen who are trying to become pregnant do not need to avoid pregnancy after receiving an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.”
This Facebook post also offers a lot of good information which is cited at the end of the post.
And of course, we should pray.
Lord, please guide our decisions in everything we do. In particular, we ask your guidance when it comes to discerning whether or not we should receive the COVID vaccine. Help us find good sources of information and have fruitful conversations with our doctors. Help us to make decisions that help ourselves and our families and that advance the common good. May all that we do be done for your glory. Amen.
April 2021 Update
There are some concerns about how COVID vaccines may affect menstrual cycles. This is primarily based on anecdotal evidence at this point, but additional research is needed.
A few notes:
- Experts say that there is not a biological mechanism that would cause a lasting change.
- Periods typically are not late or early. Ovulation is typically what is late or early. Ovulation can be delayed by a number of factors: stress, illness, NSAIDs, etc. It is reasonable to consider that the timing of the vaccine may delay ovulation which results in a “late” period. I don’t know how many women reporting slightly early or slightly late periods know approximately when they ovulated.
- Some women are observing changes in the flow and/or cramping after getting vaccinated.
You can read more on this topic on The New York Times, WTVR, Health, and Today.
