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The COVID-19 vaccine does not make you infertile
The COVID-19 vaccines are on track to become a key tool in the fight against the pandemic: Being vaccinated provides you with immunity to the virus, which helps stop the spread and keep everyone safe. That’s why it’s so important for everyone to take the shots – and why the myths surrounding vaccinations, including that they can cause infertility or are not safe for pregnant people, are so harmful. “There are a lot of people who are concerned about vaccine and vaccine safety, and I think it’s a result of how much misinformation has been put out there,” said Iahn Gonsenhauser, MD, chief quality officer and safety officer at Ohio State University. Wexner Medical Center, told Refinery29. While most Americans are willing to receive a vaccine, 27% of people are still reluctant, a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found in December. Many people are worried about possible side effects, the survey showed, despite health officials stressing the safety of the vaccines. One widely shared Facebook post calls the COVID vaccine ‘female sterilization’. It contains a peak protein, known as syncytin-1, which is important in creating the placenta. The post claims that the vaccine will cause humans to develop an immune response against the specific protein of the vein and cause fertility issues. Dr. Gonsenhauser says, “It’s simple, completely false.” “There is no evidence to suggest that this vaccine would affect fertility, and there is no reason not to get the vaccine,” said Abisola Olulade, MD, a San Diego family doctor. Another fake and scary Facebook entry – the one shared by a naturopath – says that ‘they’ do not want women to get pregnant in the Moderna trials, a month after the second dose of vaccination. The naturopath has concluded that this means that the vaccine is not safe to give to pregnant women, but there is also no evidence to support these claims. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has given the go-ahead for pregnant people, and those trying to conceive, to receive the vaccine, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists echoes this, recommending that COVID-19 Vaccines “not withheld” from pregnant individuals who meet vaccination criteria and should also be offered to breastfeeding people There are limited data on the safety of receiving COVID vaccines during pregnancy. Pregnant people are usually excluded from clinical trials. tests due to concerns about the harm to the fetus (although many claim that the maintenance of pregnant people from trials results in their health needs being underrepresented). Twenty-three of the participants in Pfizer’s trial during the course of the study got pregnant, but it’s too little of a sample to tell us much.Dr Olulade says that people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant, with their doctors r have to talk before they get the vaccine (everyone has to!). “Ultimately, it’s about weighing the risks of the unknown when it comes to the vaccine in pregnant women versus the known dangerous risks of COVID.” ‘There is a lot of data that supports the increased risk [pregnant people] suffers from severe disease of COVID-19, ”adds dr. Gonsenhauser by. They are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit and require mechanical ventilation due to COVID-19. “From the risk-benefit perspective, there are very few risks identified for pregnant women as a result of the vaccine, and there are many benefits that have been identified,” he continues. If a pregnant person prefers not to be vaccinated, it is especially important that he does everything in his power to stay safe, including social distance and wearing a face mask in public. The vaccines have some well-known side effects for the general public, including fever, fatigue, headaches and swelling at the injection site – similar to the effects of the flu vaccine. This week, the CDC released a nearly 2 million dose analysis showing how unusually worse allergic reactions to the vaccine are: there were only 11.1 cases per million doses administered. “At this point, we have had tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who have received the vaccines currently being administered in the United States,” says Dr. Gonsenhauser. “They have been proven time and time again to be safe and effective.” Ultimately, it is the choice of each individual to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or not, and if you are concerned, talk to a reputable doctor about your own personal risk. But as the CDC states, we know that it can protect you from the virus and help stop the pandemic in its tracks – and with reports of a new, highly contagious COVID-19 superstorm landing in the US, there’s plenty of reason to want to stop the spread of the life-threatening virus as soon as possible. As you can see? How about a little more R29 goodness, here? What to know about the new COVID-19 “Super Strain” medical racism, the COVID vaccine and a way forward Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has just received FDA approval