Claims on social media that COVID-19 vaccines could affect female fertility are unfounded, experts say.
These posts falsely claimed that the Pfizer vaccine could cause infertility in women, or cause their bodies to attack the placenta.
But there is no "plausible biological mechanism" that proves the vaccine can affect fertility, says Prof Lucy Chappell, professor of obstetrics at King's College London, and spokesperson for the College's Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom (UK).
How does the vaccine work?
The vaccine works by sending a message to the body with a blueprint, allowing it to produce a small, harmless fragment of the distinctive "spot" of the Corona virus.
This prompts the immune system to spring into action, producing antibodies and white blood cells to fight the virus – and enabling this system to recognize the virus again, should it encounter it after a while.
These “vaccine particles” are extremely short-lived: they deliver their message and then are destroyed. That’s why the Pfizer vaccine in particular must be stored so carefully – the genetic material it contains breaks down and becomes useless very easily.
What does the evidence say?
Online, some people have written about an earlier version of guidance published by the UK government that said it was still “unknown” whether the Pfizer vaccine had an impact on fertility. But since then, there have been many updates, including animal tests that found the vaccine did not show any harmful effects on the reproductive system.
Part of the confusion here has to do with how scientists describe things compared to how most of us would understand them in our daily lives.
When scientists say there is "no evidence" it means there hasn't been a long-term study on this specific vaccine yet - but that doesn't mean there is no evidence at all, just that they are working on it.
In fact, Professor Chappell said that there is a lot of evidence from earlier vaccines that work on the same logic as those for the Corona virus, which have had no impact on fertility and are completely safe and recommended for use during pregnancy.
(Full article on BBC)