Amy Taylor was talking to friends while drinking Zoom when the conversation took an unexpected turn. One member of the group – all in their 30s, most with university degrees and professional jobs – mentioned that she was concerned about the Covid vaccine because she wanted to try a baby in the next year or two.
“I was surprised when others said they were also a little anxious. So I started to think that maybe I should be concerned too – even though I’m pro-vaccination and know that this is the way out of the pandemic, ”said Taylor *. “Does this really affect the fertility insecurity that many women in their 30s have – I left it too late, will I need IVF, should I freeze my eggs? We don’t want anything else that can interfere with our chances of being a mother. “
Concern about fertility is one of the main drivers of vaccine hesitation, despite explicit guarantees from doctors and scientists. The suggestion that Covid’s vaccines could affect fertility was “absurd,” Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy medical director, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain Last week. There was “no evidence that there are problems with family planning or fertility,” he added.
The Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) issued a joint statement on misinformation about the effect of Covid vaccines on fertility. “There is no biologically plausible mechanism by which current vaccines have any impact on women’s fertility,” said Edward Morris, president of RCOG.
The British Fertility Society and the Association of Clinical and Reproductive Scientists also issued guidelines saying that “there was absolutely no evidence, and no theoretical reason, that any of the vaccines could affect the fertility of women or men.”
People can start fertility treatment immediately after being vaccinated, and those who are donating eggs or sperm for use by others can get the vaccine. Women who have had recurrent miscarriages and are now trying to conceive do not need to postpone vaccination, the guidance said.
Raj Mathur, chairman of the British Fertility Society’s executive committee, said there was little data on the vaccine’s hesitation or the reasons for it. “But, anecdotally, many people expressed concerns for me and colleagues – even among healthcare professionals,” he said. Observer.
“It is based on disinformation, but unfortunately it exists. Vaccination does not prevent you from becoming pregnant and is the best way to reduce your risk of contracting Covid during pregnancy. “
Virginia Beckett, clinical leader in reproductive medicine at the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said she also had anecdotal evidence of vaccine hesitation among women of reproductive age. “We have seen health professionals refusing vaccination because of these concerns – and this is an early warning, because most women in this age group have not even received the vaccine yet,” she said.
The online misinformation largely resulted from a comment posted by a former Pfizer employee that the immune response triggered by his vaccine could attack the placenta, she said. The post was deleted and its content discredited. “But the idea inevitably became a snowball, especially among people who already had doubts about the vaccine. It is a major concern. ”She added:“ This misinformation is very difficult to resolve. Social media plays an important role in many people’s lives, and you can easily be taken to quite conspiratorial and dark places. If you already have anxiety, there is a lot of material to reinforce that. “
Beckett posted a video on Twitter refuting statements about the effect of vaccines on fertility, saying that “it was not biologically possible”. But, he added, “what we do know is that Covid is dangerous for pregnant women.”
At the peak of the current wave, 9% of all intensive care patients in the UK were pregnant or had recently given birth, she said. “We saw some really sick patients in the last trimester [of pregnancy], and we saw a three-fold increase in early deliveries. We all want to do everything to protect our chances of building a family. But it is a perverse way of trying to achieve this by avoiding vaccination, especially since we know that Covid will not go away. “
* Fictitious name