{"id":17408,"date":"2021-08-05T18:46:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T18:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=17408"},"modified":"2022-02-27T20:51:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T20:51:07","slug":"covid-19-vaccinations-fertility-and-pregnancy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/covid-19-vaccinations-fertility-and-pregnancy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 vaccinations: fertility and pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The issue of how COVID-19 vaccines may impact fertility and\/or pregnancy continues to be live. Health Minister Robin Swann told the Stormont health committee<\/a> on 14 January 2021, that an anti-vaccination group targeted young female healthcare staff outside vaccination centres, saying COVID-19 vaccination would affect their fertility. He added that this message was \u201cquite negative, quite wrong, potentially quite damaging\u201d. This was also reported in the local media<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These particular anti-vaccination campaigners are not alone in this view. Theories are being spread across social media, particularly about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, about how a protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus which causes COVID-19), called a \u201cspike protein\u201d works. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where it gets a little complicated. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The science bit \u2014 how an mRNA vaccine works<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FactCheckNI has written before about <\/span>how this vaccine works<\/span><\/a>. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. This type of vaccine does not put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Rather, an mRNA teaches our cells how to make a protein, or even just a piece of a protein, that triggers an immune response inside our bodies.The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the \u201cspike protein\u201d, which is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. The immune system response to this vaccine \u2014 our body\u2019s production of antibodies \u2014 is what protects us from getting <\/span>the COVID-19 disease<\/span><\/a> if the real virus enters our bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has this been linked to issues with fertility?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The misinformation and disinformation circulating about the impact of this mRNA vaccine on fertility often focus on <\/span>a purported link<\/span><\/a> between the spike protein formed by receiving the mRNA-based vaccines and blockage of a protein necessary for formation of and the  attachment of the human placenta to the uterus. The <\/span>protein syncitin-1<\/span><\/a> is critical for the placenta to remain attached to the uterus and act as the source of nutrition and blood supply to the fetus during pregnancy. However, this is not the protein known as the COVID-19 \u201cspike protein\u201d. <\/span>The antibodies produced against the COVID-19 spike protein will not block syncitin-1.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine does not share an amino acid sequence with the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (which results in COVID-19) that will make the immune system attack both the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and a placental protein. Why? <\/span>The COVID vaccine amino acid sequence is too short<\/span><\/a> for the immune system for our bodies to confuse it with placental proteins. Hence, <\/span>it has been stated<\/span><\/a> that there is no reasonable basis to believe that vaccines against COVID-19\/SARS-CoV-2 will affect fertility. The <\/span>three most advanced vaccines<\/span><\/a> (from Oxford\/AstraZeneca, Pfizer\/BioNTech and Moderna) all work by getting our own cells to make copies of the virus spike protein.<\/span>
It\u2019s also important to know that it has also been <\/span>concluded<\/span><\/a> that: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n