Vaccine and fertility - has anyone seen this?

[Startys]

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/941452/Information_for_healthcare_professionals.pdf

Basically says that effects on fertility are unknown. Is this worrying or am I missing something?

I'm slightly surprised that tests are planned on pregnant women, firstly because that sounds slightly unexplained unethical but mainly because that wouldn't lead to any knowledge about the effects on fertility.

They aren’t. They will look at women who are vaccinated and unexpectedly fall pregnant soon after.

The testing on pregnant women was something I read in a newspaper. He’s doesn’t want in vaccines but he is a research scientist, who has been interested in the vaccine development, and in passing mentioned to me that it is unknown what the impact will be for pregnant women.

@Kjc39

It is concerning. My husband works in science and he had already mentioned this. From what he was saying. There is the possible potential that the spike protein could over stimulate the placenta, but they have not yet done studies on this, as it’s been rushed through. That’s probably why they are advising pregnant women or those planning on getting pregnant within 3 months. They will be looking into this more in the summer. Testing on pregnant women.

Well if your husband is a scientist he has completely misunderstood the science behind the concern or you have misunderstood him! The concern is that there may be similarities between the spike protein and a protein in the placenta so antibodies to the spike protein may target the placental protein. However, as I posted above there is actually little similarity between the two proteins so the chance of cross reactivity of the antibodies is miniscule. I'll repost the link. fullfact.org/health/vaccine-covid-fertility/

I'm also pretty sure that pfizer would have checked how (un)similar the proteins are when choosing the vaccine candidate.

@kjc39

It is concerning. My husband works in science and he had already mentioned this. From what he was saying. There is the possible potential that the spike protein could over stimulate the placenta, but they have not yet done studies on this, as it’s been rushed through. That’s probably why they are advising pregnant women or those planning on getting pregnant within 3 months. They will be looking into this more in the summer. Testing on pregnant women.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ There is so much misinformation in this post. Your husband works in science? What does that mean?

I can’t even begin to explain how much ‘the spike protein could over stimulate the placenta’ does not make sense

Please don’t repeat things you don’t understand, without credible sources, in a pandemic no less!

*My husband works in science
*
How vague!

Hi OP.

Many of us here get suspicious of new accounts being created to post fears and wide eyed wondrous worries about vaccines. It’s happened before. It will happen again.

This doesn’t feel genuine am sorry to say.

It's not genuine at all, account created to spread misinformation and start a pointless debate.

[quote Startys]@PaddyF0dder so I’m right to be concerned? I’m just surprised this isn’t in the news[/quote]
But they say unknown when they have nothing to suggest either way. They can't prove it doesn't, but it doesn't mean it does!

They have also never tested it on a 5 year old child, so they can't prove it doesn't make them dance around like a puppy and grow fur 🤷‍♀️ doesn't mean it will!

Look I’m just expressing my own opinion. I’m not telling anyone what to do. What is the point of even commenting on here, if all people do is patronise other people’s points of view. I am not anti vaccinations. My children have had all their vaccinations as have I, but at the moment, I admit I’m not totally convinced that we, as in myself and my children need this vaccine. We are thankfully low risk and luckily won’t even be offered it for quite a long time. That will probably give me a lot of time to then decide to go ahead. But if I we were offered it tomorrow, then no way would we have it. Yes the vaccine is probably as safe as any other vaccine, time will tell.

Current advice is that pregnant or breasfeeding women don't have the vaccine. That's me out for at least three years then!

*breastfeeding

And as for this ‘But only two very small parts of these proteins look the same—it’s not the whole protein—and therefore realistically the body’s immune system is not likely to confuse the two, and att-1 rather than the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 and stop a placenta forming.’

The words not likely stand out to me. ‘Not likely’ doesn’t mean couldn’t happen.

And this ‘Although we haven’t had years to watch what happens after people get the vaccine, this doesn’t mean there’s any evidence this vaccine might impact fertility. It just means that hasn’t been explicitly studied.’

Exactly it hasn’t been explicitly studied.

It’s safe to have a flu vaccine during pregnancy as studies have concluded that it is safe. But this is not yet the case with this vaccine. Until that happens lots of women who are pregnant and breastfeeding or planning on getting pregnant will not be getting it.

It’s standard and it’s just because reproductive toxicity studies take a long time to read out.

@kjc39 but you’re confusing two completely separate issues?

Yes as standard with a new vaccine or medication it hasn’t been proven to be safe in pregnancy. That’s why right nor pregnant woman are not being vaccinated.

You realise that’s totally unrelated to adverse effects on fertility, of which there’s no evidence to suggest it has an impact?

This smacks of the polio boycott in Nigeria in 2003. Rumours were spread that it was a deliberate attempt to sterilise populations, leading to people not taking it up and erosion of trust in public health..

@Foliageeverywhere122

The points made by @Kjc39 were concise and level-headed

It's worrying that you can think that she wants to boycott anything. She's just expressing an opinion that you don't agree with

No, it’s not expressing an opinion. It’s stating misinformation as fact, and saying it was said by a scientist 😩

I did not say they were trying to boycott anything. I used the example of Nigeria as a parallel situation where misinformation rapidly spread, leading to 1000s of necessary deaths.

Opinions and questions are great, spreading misinformation without trying to fact check yourself is not.

*unnecessary deaths 😳

It’s late, I’m a stressed epidemiologist who clearly needs to get some sleep..

[quote trulydelicious]@Foliageeverywhere122

The points made by @Kjc39 were concise and level-headed

It's worrying that you can think that she wants to boycott anything. She's just expressing an opinion that you don't agree with[/quote]
No they really weren't. They are a misinterpretation of a scientific process and normal scientific language.

I have asked MNHQ for a webchat on this issue. It's really important for people to have proper information, explained by somebody who understands the issue.

Not the scaremongering and misinformation rife on MN at the moment. Make a choice, but make an informed choice of the actual risks.

Yesterday, the Royal Society of Medicine did an excellent video chat about this. Kate Garroway did the interviews with 4 different medical experts. It is now on You Tube.
I started a thread on site stuff to raise awareness and somebody reported me for spamming and got my post deleted.
After some to and fro ing with mnhq, my post was moved to the Coronavirus board.
There is so much nonsense being talked about this whole subject, I would really recommend the RSM discussion for simple, straightforward information.
I can't do links on my phone but it is easy enough to find the RSM website.

@Kjc39

And as for this ‘But only two very small parts of these proteins look the same—it’s not the whole protein—and therefore realistically the body’s immune system is not likely to confuse the two, and att-1 rather than the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 and stop a placenta forming.’

The words not likely stand out to me. ‘Not likely’ doesn’t mean couldn’t happen.

And this ‘Although we haven’t had years to watch what happens after people get the vaccine, this doesn’t mean there’s any evidence this vaccine might impact fertility. It just means that hasn’t been explicitly studied.’

Exactly it hasn’t been explicitly studied.

You do realise though that if there was any chance of cross reactivity it would happen with covid infection too? So just in case there is any risk to fertility you had better avoid catching covid too.

@JS87

A vaccine is not the same as a virus

you had better avoid catching covid too

Yes, people will be careful and try to avoid catching Covid I would like to believe

They also have reservations and doubts regarding the vaccines currently being released.

A vaccine is not the same as a virus

The whole point of the vaccine is to be the same shape as the virus. Specifically, the spike protein. It wouldn’t work otherwise. If the vaccine caused cross reactivity with placental proteins as suggested, so would actual covid.

The long-term effects of Covid aren’t known but we are seeing some very worrying trends. A fit young doctor in his thirties has been left with epilepsy and serious heart problems after catching Covid. He will almost certainly never work or drive again.

If this happened to a female, I doubt she would be able to go on to have children tbh. So yeah, Covid CAN have devastating effects on fertility.

I think I’ll take my chances with the vaccine.

If this happened to a female, I doubt she would be able to go on to have children tbh. So yeah, Covid CAN have devastating effects on fertility.

People with epilepsy and heart problems are usually fertile unless they have other health issues. Those conditions might make it inadvisable to get pregnant but you are not infertile.

I understand why you’ve written your post in the way that you have but it really isn’t helpful. There is no evidence that covid affects fertility.