By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel -
A new study by the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem shows that the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has no effect on female fertility, and neither does the disease itself, the Jerusalem Post reported this week.
The study appears to be the first of its kind and was made possible by Israel’s national vaccination campaign in which most of the country’s population aged 16 and up have received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
The report was recently published on the medical research website medRxiv and details the study of 32 women who took part in the research at the in-vitro fertility (IVF) clinic at Hadassah.
“About half of the study group did not turn to us because of personal infertility problems, but rather because they wanted to freeze their eggs or because their partner presents some male infertility issues,” said Dr. Anat Hershko, director of the IVF Unit at Hadassah Hospital’s Mount Scopus campus.
The participants were divided into three groups: those who received the Pfizer vaccine, those who had been infected with coronavirus and recovered from the disease, and those who did not have any exposure to the virus.
The researchers checked the follicular fluid, a key element in the IVF treatment process.
“This liquid is a very good source to study the environment of the egg, as it can be analyzed at the hormonal level and checked for certain proteins that according to medical literature are good indicators for the quality of the egg. So this is what we did,” said Hershko.
“We were very happy to find that the vaccine did not harm in any way the performance,” said Hershko. “In addition, we were able to track the antibodies against the virus. Every patient who had antibodies in the blood presented antibodies also in the fluid, which is important because this way we know that the ovarian environment is protected from the disease.”
Hershko reassured people who had heard conspiracy theories on social media that the coronavirus vaccine could negatively impact a woman’s fertility.
“I do not see any biological reason why people should be scared of it,” Hershko said. “Perhaps in such a stressful era, people have fears related to one of the most existential parts of human life.”
Hershko said even though her preliminary study was conducted on a small sample she was “happy to be able to present these findings to my patients who come to me with these concerns. Before, they had their opinion and I had mine, but now, I can reassure them with real-world data.”
