A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that the coronavirus vaccine is safe for both pregnant women and those wishing to become pregnant.
The study, which looked at more than 2,000 couples in the U.S. and Canada, found "no bad link" between men and women getting the coronavirus vaccine and fertility.
On the other hand, men infected with the new crown virus may experience a temporary decline in fertility. According to the study, published Jan. 20 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, couples whose male partners tested positive for COVID-19 within 60 days of their partner's menstrual cycle were 18 percent less likely to conceive during that cycle.
The findings guarantee that vaccinations for couples seeking pregnancy don't appear to compromise fertility, Dr. Said. Diana Bianchi, director of the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study, said in a statement. They also provide information to doctors who offer consultations to patients who wish to become pregnant.
Myths that COVID-19 vaccines could negatively impact fertility rates have largely spread on social media.
A growing body of research shows that vaccines not only do not affect fertility, but also do not affect pregnancy.
A study released Jan. 4 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found no increased risk of premature birth or underweight babies born to pregnant women who were not vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to babies born to unvaccinated pregnant women.
Researchers at Yale University looked at health data from more than 40,000 pregnant women and found no safety issues with vaccinations during pregnancy, regardless of what trimester the woman was in at the time of vaccination or how many vaccines she received during pregnancy. The researchers noted that most of the women in the analysis were vaccinated in the second or third trimester, and the study did not include a boosted dose.
In a health warning issued in September urging pregnant women to vaccinate, the CDC said the data showed no increase in the risk of miscarriage associated with covid-19 vaccination.
The CDC said at the time that the miscarriage rate after the COVID-19 vaccine was similar to the expected miscarriage rate. In addition, the findings of the previous three safety surveillance systems did not identify any safety issues for pregnant women or their babies who were vaccinated later in pregnancy.
In addition, two studies released last summer found that Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine appeared to be safe and effective for pregnant women, and also found that it may provide protection for babies born to vaccinated people.
In August, the CDC stepped up its recommendations for vaccinatement against COVID-19 during pregnancy, citing new evidence of vaccine safety.
Two major U.S. health organizations focused on the care of pregnant women — the American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal and Child Medicine (SMFM) — have also issued new guidelines calling on all pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also said that pregnant women can be vaccinated against the new crown virus.
"There is currently limited data available to assess the safety of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy. However, based on what we know about the types of vaccines used, there is no concrete reason to be concerned," WHO said on its website. To date, none of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines use live viruses that are more likely to pose a risk during pregnancy.
Both the Pfizer vaccine and modern vaccines use mRNA technology, which doesn't enter the nucleus or alter human DNA; instead, it sends a genetic guidebook that prompts cells to create proteins that look like part of a virus as a way for the body to learn and develop a way to fend off future infections.
They were the first mRNA vaccines that were theoretically safe during pregnancy because they did not contain live viruses.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses an inactivated adenovirus vector Ad26 that cannot be replicated. The Ad26 vector carries a piece of DNA that instructs the production of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, triggering an immune response.
The same type of vaccine has been licensed for the Ebola virus and has been extensively studied for other diseases and how it affects pregnant or nursing women.
The CDC concluded that after reviewing more than 200 pages of data provided by Johnson & Johnson and the United States, pregnant women could get one shot of the vaccine. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Vaccine experts interviewed by ABC News said that while pregnant women are advised not to be vaccinated against live attenuated vaccines such as measles, mumps and rubella, as they may theoretically pose a risk of infection for the fetus, Johnson & Johnson vaccines do not contain live viruses and should be safe.
The coronavirus has proven to be more dangerous for pregnant women, especially if they are not vaccinated.
According to the CDC, covid-19 triples the risk of admission to intensive care units and a 70 percent increased risk of death among pregnant women.
A study led by Researchers in Scotland and published this month in the journal Nature Medicine found that pregnant women who were not vaccinated against COVID-19 were not only at risk of more serious illness themselves, but also more likely to lose pregnancy or have a premature birth than other women.