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A new study adds to the growing body of evidence indicating there is no link between Covid-19 vaccines and a lower likelihood of getting pregnant the CNBC reported.
The National Institutes of Health-funded study, which was published on Thursday in the American Journal of Epidemiology, followed almost 2,100 women and some of their partners in the United States and Canada for about a year, finishing in November 2021.
It concluded that getting vaccinated against Covid had no discernible influence on fertility rates in men or women.
In comparison to males who had not tested positive for Covid within 60 days of their partner’s menstrual cycle, men who tested positive for Covid within 60 days of their partner’s menstrual cycle were 18 percent less likely to conceive during that cycle.
Amelia Wesselink, a study co-author and research assistant professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, told CNBC that the findings did not show any long-term effects from Covid infections on either male or female fertility.
More study is needed to figure out why male fertility declines following infection with Covid.
Fever is a typical Covid symptom, and fevers are known to temporarily lower sperm count and motility, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Boback Berookhim, director of male fertility and microsurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City says that men who had symptomatic Covid with high fever, may notice a temporary drop in sperm count that will likely rebound after a few months.
Lenox Hill’s director of gynecology, Dr. Adi Katz, , says that inflammation produced by an infection may also contribute to sperm quality reduction. Covid infections have now been demonstrated in multiple trials to impact male fertility, primarily in patients who are moderately to severely unwell, she adds.
The NIH-funded study found that getting vaccinated against Covid could potentially prevent the short-term reduction in male fertility.
Wesselink expects the findings will aid couples in making educated decisions about Covid vaccinations and provide reassurance that getting vaccinated will not affect their chances of becoming pregnant.
From December 2020 to November 2021, researchers collected data from over 2,100 women in the United States and Canada, ranging in age from 21 to 45.
Subjects were required to fill out health questionnaires online every eight weeks until they became pregnant, or for a year if they did not become pregnant.
Participants were also asked questions about their male companions, with the option of inviting them to fill out similar surveys.
