Fertility is often cited as a reason for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Misinformation is permeating into our lives through the media we consume daily. Surely, you’ve heard it by now, “we need to combat vaccine misinformation!” It’s also likely you know someone who deeply believes something that you likely understand to be completely nuts.
Let my thoughts go into the written record.
Fertility was never a concern when I rolled up my sleeve to get my first Moderna jab.
In fact, it was quite the opposite. I waited until I could get my first vaccine to go through the sperm extraction for our IVF journey.
That’s right, I got my fist Moderna shot at the end of February, and then in the beginning of March, some two weeks later, I took a scalpel to the nuts to identify and extract the sperm that would then be used to create an embryo.
Since most of the IVF process is not covered by insurance you could go as far to saw that I put my money where my mouth was. My confidence in the both the vaccine and IVF science was so substantial that there was never a second thought to getting the vaccine before we began lab-assisted reproduction (as required by my CF).
Let this one anecdote serve as some confidence for those who may need it.
I feel validated in our choice given the comprehensive research that has concluded the same result my experience showed me. Researchers in heavily vaccinated Israel have concluded that COVID-19 vaccination has not affected sperm quality after looking at sperm samples both before and after vaccination.
Further, it has been shown that infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to COVID-19, does affect sperm quality in for some men.
The choice for me was easy and given my experience with it all and the data behind me, I hope the choice will be easy for you, too!
