Can the COVID-19 Vaccines Affect My Fertility?

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | COVID-19, Featured, Men's Health, Vaccines, Women's Health, Your Health

Worried young woman holding pregnancy test

Some men and women may be reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccination because of concerns about fertility. You may be wondering if any of the vaccines used in the United States can have an effect on your sperm count, or on your eggs, embryo, or the pregnancy itself.

In this Q&A, Alan Copperman, MD, Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and Vice Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Mount Sinai Health System, says the evidence shows that the vaccines do not pose a concern.

Update: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 29, 2021, strongly recommended COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks. Read more from the CDC

Does the COVID-19 vaccine affect my sperm count?

None of the COVID-19 vaccines in use in the United States affect sperm count or the sperm’s  ability to move toward an egg (motility). It is true that contracting a severe case of COVID-19 can lower sperm count for a time. But studies show that the vaccine itself does not affect sperm. In fact, we recently completed a study looking at sperm donors around the country before and after getting the vaccine. We saw no change in count or motility.

Can the vaccine affect my ability to get pregnant and have a baby?

We have found that the COVID-19 vaccinations do not affect a woman’s fertility.  Pregnancy involves a number of steps:

  • Your ovaries release an egg.
  • The egg travels through the fallopian tube to the womb (uterus).
  • Sperm fertilizes the egg as it travels.
  • The fertilized egg attaches to the inside of the uterus (implantation) and grows.

A problem at any one of these steps can lead to infertility. We’ve been studying women who have gone through several fertility cycles to see if any of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States affects any of these steps. We have found that:

  • The vaccine does not decrease egg production.
  • It doesn’t affect the ability to make an embryo.
  • It doesn’t affect a chromosomally normal embryo’s ability to grow in the uterus.
Will the COVID-19 vaccine have any effect on my pregnancy?

This is a good question because we’ve found that pregnant women who get COVID-19 tend to become very ill. That’s why we recommend taking the vaccine. As of now, three billion COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered, have of them to women, and we haven’t heard any reports of them affecting a woman’s pregnancy. We have also seen women getting the vaccine while undergoing in vitro fertilization—and it has had no effect on their outcomes. In fact, we have found that the vaccine not only protects the pregnant woman, but it keeps them safe at vulnerable times, such as when they deliver—and the fetus gets some immunity as well. We hypothesize that the vaccine prevents severe illness in these babies.

Should I get the COVID-19 vaccine if I’m planning a pregnancy in the near future?

The best time to get the vaccine is as soon as it becomes available to you. You may feel tired after the shot, and you may have short-term symptoms like fever. Some people have an allergic reaction to the vaccine, but that is very rare. We definitely recommend getting the COVID-19 vaccine to protect you, your pregnancy, and your infant.

If I’m already pregnant should I get the vaccine?

Safety data from around the world shows that women taking the vaccine during pregnancy have seen no effect on their pregnancy. The vaccine has shown itself to be safe and effective. As a result, all the major organizations involved with women’s health care—including the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—are strongly advocating that people who are pregnant get the vaccine.

Which vaccine is best for a pregnant woman?

There’s no data suggesting that any one of the vaccines is better than any of the others for pregnant women. We know that the effectiveness against preventing disease seems a little bit higher in the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), but all the vaccines that have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are up to 99 percent effective in preventing severe disease and death. Get whatever vaccine is most readily available to you.

What should I do if I have questions about the vaccine and my fertility?

If you have any questions, ask your health care provider. You can also check the online guidelines from organizations like the World Health Organization and the FDA. There is a lot of great information out there to help us fight back against this pandemic.

Get more COVID-19 vaccine information from Mount Sinai
Read more from Mount Sinai about Your Health

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