Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Doctor: Vaccine unlikely to affect fertility
Claim is one of the most common reasons cited for avoiding shot
Many men are weighing the option of getting a COVID vaccine against their future potential as fathers.
Can a COVID vaccine make them sterile?
A University of Miami researcher says what young men really should be weighing is the chance of sterility caused by the coronavirus, rather than worrying about any potential risk with the vaccine — because there is virtually none so far.
Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, director of reproductive urology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, discovered having even a mild case of COVID19 can lower male sperm count for at least six months. Ramasamy’s research is in line with a study of 189 young men in Tehran published in the journal Reproduction that also found the male reproductive system could be targeted and damaged by the COVID-19 infection.
But can a COVID vaccine — which teaches our cells to make an immune response — have the same effect on a man’s ability to have children?
Ramasamy says it’s highly unlikely.
“Based on the biology of what we know the virus does in the testes, we don’t believe the vaccine has the elements needed to affect fertility,” Ramasamy said.
Ramasamy wants to confirm his presumptions. He has begun recruiting 60 men, ages 18-50, to gather evidence that could eliminate doubts regarding vaccine effect on sperm quality. Researchers will look at a semen sample before the men get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and then again three and six months later.
None of the clinical trials for the vaccines now offered in the United States studied the impact on male fertility, and social media is abuzz with concern.
“We are studying it to provide reassurance. We don’t think the vaccine will affect fertility,” Ramasamy said. “We strongly believe men should take whichever vaccine is offered to them.”
The claim that COVID-19 vaccines trigger infertility is one of the most common reasons cited by Americans who say they will not get vaccinated, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-focused nonprofit in California.
For now, the Miami researchers will study the effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which use a different method to build immunity to the virus than the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Ramasamy also plans to study the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s effect when his current study is completed in six to eight weeks.
“I don’t believe the receptors on the virus that bind to the testes will be generated by the vaccine regardless of whether it’s Johnson & Johnson or
Pfizer or Moderna,” he said. “We strongly believe men should take whichever vaccine is offered to them.”
Dr. Luis Hoyos, a fertility specialist with IVF Florida Reproductive Associates in Margate, fields concern daily from male patients. He says there is a lot of misinformation about COVID vaccines and infertility that started with a false report on social media.
“From a biological point of view, there is no possibility that the vaccine can lead to any infertility. Yet, there is a ton of social media panic,” he said. “That’s why they are doing the research in Miami, to address it.”
Hoyos said he personally has been vaccinated. “I got the vaccine as soon as I could and I don’t have children yet. It’s the only way back to normal.”