To Vax or Not to Vax, that is the Question

Initially detected in the city of Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The urgency to launch a vaccine, within one year of the pandemic made Pfizer vaccine the first vaccine approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration .

Fertility treatments were suspended, in the UK, on 15 April 2020, which caused a delay in treatment starting day.

However by November 2020 The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (the HFEA) set out a framework governing the resumption of treatments and almost all private and NHS clinics had approval to reopen clinics, resulting in an uplift in more privately funded IVF cycles in July 2020, compared to 2019. The number of eggs and sperm donations did however drop, falling below pre-pandemic levels.

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

The British Fertility Society and Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists, stated that there is no evidence that vaccines can affect the fertility of males or females who are seeking or undergoing a fertility treatment.

Moreover fertility patients were strongly encouraged to get vaccinated (or vaxxed as it is sometimes referred to in the media).

The safety of vaccination in pregnancy is supported by studies showing no impact on miscarriage rates or the absence of any safety signals from the use of vaccines, upon testing 275,000 women in the USA and UK.

In fact, the NHS and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are strongly recommending that women should be vaxxed in pregnancy, in order to protect their babies.

Most studies showed no evidence of impaired male fertility in COVID19 vaxxed men.

A recent small study looked at the sperm quality of forty-five healthy men who received the mRNA vaccine. They found no significant changes in the sperm parameters post vaccination. Another study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, also concluded that COVID-19 vaccine does not impair fertility of both partners, male or female.

However, the COVID-19 virus can be associated with a temporary reduction in sperm quality, which can be caused by illness, especially when high temperature is present.

WHAT ABOUT EGG AND SPERM DONORS?

According to the HFEA, egg and sperm donors must allow at least seven days from their recent vaccination prior to donating eggs or sperm, and if they feel unwell after their vaccination, they are asked to defer from donation for seven days until their symptoms have improved.

Sperm donors’ vaccinated status is being recorded upon each donation, however, unvaxxed donors are not first choice and vaxxed men are not discouraged from sperm donorship.

Although there seems to be no scientific evidence that the sperm of vaxxed men is affected, and therefore less valuable, some patients insist to know the donor’s vaccinated status and the question why remains.

SO WHY THE HESITANCY?

Ever since the introduction of various vaccines, everybody seems to have become “the expert” when it comes to vax or not to vax, and until recently it became one of the most talked about, “should you or shouldn’t you” topics, so heated, that it escalated to a boiling point, where the unvaxxed by choice, became public enemies, social outcasts, to the point where sometimes relationships with friends were severed and even married couples with different opinions were having vax wars, heightening the household arguments to actually overshadow what to watch on Netflix.

Widespread on-line opinions and social media platforms calling for continuity of objective scientific inquiry, have helped to promote the views and growing belief within the anti-vaxxed community.

Anti-vaxxers claim that the majority of the population has no need to be vaxxed, advocating for the use of alternative remedies.

Moreover, as vaccine hesitancy persists, anti-vaxxers, mostly men, seem to be coming up with their own “creative” takes about the future value of their sperm, starting to believe they have an extremely valuable commodity, inspired to develop a new unvaxxed-sperm cryptocurrency, making one wonder is the unvaxxed sperm the new Bitcoin?

WHAT’S THE VERDICT?

The demand for fertility treatments, will continue to see donor eggs and sperm, as an important feature of family planning.

Future parents need to have clarity and be aware of medical, legal, ethical and social issues associated with the health and safety of fertility treatment, so they can feel relaxed before the new member of the family takes over.

Talk to your fertility clinic or a consultant scientist to decide on the best way for you to proceed.