Fertility and the COVID vaccine: a scientific breakdown

@fcb349 I just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I have been losing my brain cells trying to explain and convince women to not only vaccinate themselves, but also their daughters. I have no issue educating people but the kind of nasty comments I hear back is just absurd and a terrible example when it’s in front of their kids. So thank you for sharing this; I knew about some of these articles but you shared some new stuff that I am going to print out for patients.
 
@heismerciful I’m sorry you have to deal with that. Honestly the COVIDiots are a big part of what drove me out of family medicine for now at least. The ignorant comments and abuse are bad enough, but the demands for vaccine exemptions paperwork were starting to come in when I left. 😬 I love educating patients, but some are truly resistant to it. I’ve gotten good at determining who is worth the effort and who’s a lost cause.

What vaccine education handouts do you use? Would love some ideas. I am in urgent care now but still print education handouts for those interested.
 
@fcb349 Seems to me that menstrual changes need to be tracked and considered for all medications/vaccines. It makes me feel very uncomfortable that it’s not SOP to do so. I am also in the camp of getting pregnant 2 cycles after my 2nd dose.
 
@fcb349 I disagree with your TLDR. Having served 8 years in the military and having almost every vaccine created including anthrax I can tell you my body never skipped a period. 2 deployments, basic training, and being hospitalized all know for being very stressful never caused me to miss a period. COVID vaccine, period was 2 weeks late. Thankfully they have looked into it and their research is being released. But the menstrual changes are a real thing and unique to this vaccine. I did not and still do not feel it causes fertility issues. I am however, sick and tired of people ignoring women’s health and telling us it’s just stress, don’t worry. That’s so demeaning to women who were quite caught off guard when their periods changed from this vaccine. I work primary care and I got so many messages from women about missed periods or prolonged periods and post menopausal bleeding. And why on earth are periods not asked about during medical trials?
 
@gal4christ Former primary care NP here until recently, so I got those messages and saw those appointments too, and empathized with and hopefully alleviated the sheer panic they felt. I also was a week late after my Moderna booster, which was just an annoying tease since we were trying to conceive at that time. Neither I nor the article on menstrual changes specific to COVID vaccination are saying that these menstrual changes don’t exist (the toll-like receptors being especially sensitive to mRNA especially makes sense). I think it’s simply driving that they’re not irreversible and doesn’t have long-term fertility implications. Those in science or medicine are privileged to parse the difference between the two, but many otherwise intelligent and educated people not in science aren’t, and can’t help but link their menstrual cycles with fertility potential. And they might find such explanations useful. The initial iteration of my post was shared on a Facebook group, for example.

Totally agree though that clinical trials need to be way more female friendly and stop treating menstruation like some hush hush dirty secret to brush under the rug.
 
@fcb349 Anecdotal: had 2 shots before conceiving and 2 while pregnant. Externally grateful to all the scientists and vaccine trial participants who made it possible for me to get vaccinated. I got COVID at around 20wks pregnant despite the strictest of precautions (our first was 18mos at the time) and my baby was just born healthy. I’m almost 42 and had major concerns about fertility before COVID but the vaccine was a no brainer for us. It didn’t affect my fertility and it may have saved my second daughter and I from lifelong complications.
 
@luther27 Yup. I had been trying to get pregnant for about 4 years with no luck. Then less than 3 months after my second dose I was pregnant. 🤷🏽‍♀️

By that point I was finally ready to accept that it might never happen for me so when someone told me I shouldn’t get the vaccine because it might make me infertile I just said “I’m already infertile” and got it anyway. It could be purely coincidental, but I would also be interested to find out more about it.
 
@luther27 Same. Had my first moderna right before conceiving then the second a little less than a month later. I got boosted at the end of my third trimester and I have a healthy baby boy!
 
@luther27 Same here, just a few months later. In the meantime, my antivax SIL contracted Covid, got her hormones so messed up she ended up needing a fertility treatment and still trying to conceive. Other girls I know also developed a range of hormonal imbalances after Covid, the last one being hyperthyroidism. Not so good for pregnancy...still just anecdotal.
 
@luther27 Same, except I got Moderna. My first successful pregnancy after 5 years of trying and 2 miscarriages.

(My husband and I have been joking that the government must have put something in the vaccine to create an army of super soldier vaccine babies lol)
 
@fcb349 I heard a doctor speak on this issue that said covid reduces fertility in men, not vaccines. I don’t have a source for that but it’s interesting.
 

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