Does the corona vaccination make you sterile?

RKI now explains exactly why this claim is nonsense

Created: 01/05/2022, 05:45 AM

From: Jennifer Lanzinger

Can a vaccination with the corona vaccine make you sterile?

The RKI has now refuted this rumor.

(Symbol picture) © Mascha Brichta / dpa

Many anti-corona vaccine opponents have a persistent rumor that women may become infertile.

But the RKI now counts several points to show that the rumor is nonsense.

Berlin - The corona virus is currently spreading faster in Germany and the world.

While the USA has cracked the 1 million new infection mark for the first time after the holidays, the incidence in Germany has risen for the sixth day in a row.

Experts and politicians have been calling for months to be vaccinated against the virus, but not always with success.

A theory that persists among vaccine opponents has now been clearly refuted by the RKI.

Does the corona vaccination make you sterile?

RKI explains why this claim is nonsense

In the past few days, thousands had vented their displeasure on the streets in Germany, and more and more people are making their opinion on mandatory vaccination and strict Corona rules clear through so-called Corona “walks”. Persistent rumors should also ensure that some people decide against a corona vaccination. Apparently, some opponents of the vaccination are afraid of possible health consequences, for example of possible infertility. This is often cited in this context. But the fact is that there is no evidence that a corona vaccination actually has any effects on fertility.

As the dpa explains in a fact check, the rumor is now so persistent that the Robert Koch Institute is addressing it in a question-and-answer piece.

In the area of ​​"Vaccination for pregnant women, breastfeeding women and those wishing to have children", it is said, especially on the Internet, that vaccination makes women or men sterile: "This statement is false."

RKI lists several points in its report that speak against the rumor of infertility

The RKI therefore lists several points that underpin these words: In the non-clinical studies before the vaccines were approved, there were no indications of the occurrence of infertility after vaccination.

In the approval study by the manufacturer Biontech, twelve women among the vaccinated and eleven women in the placebo group became pregnant within the two-month follow-up period.

The RKI also names a study from Israel.

Data from 36 couples who were undergoing treatment for artificial insemination and who had been vaccinated during this period were evaluated.

The institute announced that there was no difference in the number and quality of the egg cells obtained or the sperm parameters examined before and after the vaccination.

A current study from Israel also looked at female fertility in connection with the corona vaccination.

At the Schiba Hospital near Tel Aviv, the level of the anti-Müller hormone was monitored in 129 women who had been completely vaccinated with Biontech.

This provides information about how many egg cells a sexually mature woman produces.

The result was that the vaccination had no effect on the hormone level.

RKI makes it clear: Men don't have to worry about infertility either

According to a study by the University of Miami, men also do not have to worry about their fertility in the course of the corona vaccination: Before and after the administration of two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the sperm of the 45 men examined between 18 and 50 years of age were equally fit.

But how did the misinformation that vaccination makes women infertile even come about?

Researchers at the University of Jena provide an answer to this: They refute a claim that has been widespread on the Internet that the antibodies formed by the immune system after the mRNA vaccination are directed against components of the placenta.

"Neither from previous experience with pregnant women suffering from Covid-19 nor from the perspective of placenta research can the claim be substantiated," says Ekkehard Schleußner, Director of the Clinic for Obstetrics.

Where did the infertility rumor originate from?

The mRNA vaccination creates a kind of spike protein of the coronavirus. The virus protein is in a tiny part similar to the syncytin-1 protein. This is involved in the formation of the placenta during pregnancy. However, the similarity is limited to a sequence of 5 out of 1273 amino acids in the spike protein and 538 amino acids in the syncytin-1 protein. The sequences are not even identical because they differ in the middle amino acid. "This is where the myth should have its origin," writes the University of Jena.

For years, however, antibodies against a protein that is much more similar to the syncytin-1 protein have been used in the therapy of certain autoimmune diseases. Numerous experiments have shown that this has no effect on placenta development. In addition: If the vaccination would make you sterile, then a corona infection would have to do it, emphasizes the University of Jena. Because in the event of an infection, the potential antibody formation is significantly higher and also more unpredictable than in the case of a vaccination.

There is no particular similarity between the spike protein of Sars-CoV-2 and the protein syncytin-1, which is important for the formation of the placenta, explains virologist Lars Dölken from the University of Würzburg to the German press agency.

And the RKI also adds: “According to this logic, infection with Covid-19 should also make you sterile.

However, this was also not observed anywhere in the world. "

Scientists at a university in Marseille discovered a previously unknown variant of the Corona.

However, research on this is still at the very beginning.

All information in the news ticker.