Don’t Let Misinformation About Fertility and COVID-19 Vaccines Stop Teens from Getting the Shot

• Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines have made some people fearful the shots could affect their fertility, despite no evidence this is possible.
• One survey conducted in the United Kingdom found that about a quarter of young women didn’t want to get the vaccine due to concerns about their fertility.
• If you have any concerns about the vaccines, talk with your doctor. They’ll be able to explain how the vaccines work and how there’s no link between the shot and infertility.

Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines’ ability to impact fertility has been swirling around the internet since the vaccine rollout launched in December 2020.

In recent weeks, the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation has accelerated, with people sharing unreliable links, memes, and videos claiming the vaccine can impair fertility in teenagers.

There’s no link between the vaccines and infertility, health experts say.

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have both recommended that people who are pregnant have access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The ACOG points out that the vaccine studies don’t indicate any safety concerns.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also states that those who would like to become pregnant don’t need to avoid the vaccines or a take a pregnancy test before getting the vaccines. They also point out there’s no evidence that the vaccines cause fertility problems.

During the clinical trials, several people became pregnant, suggesting that the vaccines don’t cause infertility, said Dr. José Mayorga, the executive director of the University of California Irvine’s Health Family Health Center and an assistant clinical professor of family medicine at the UCI School of Medicine.

More than 100,000 pregnant people in the United States have been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Research done in more than 35,000 pregnant people who had the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines found there’s no evidence the vaccines have affected or harmed people who were pregnant, and there’s no evidence that the shots harm the baby or pregnancy.

The study authors do say follow up should continue with these parents and children to verify the vaccine’s safety.