![]() What about COVID-19 itself? Research into pregnant and recently pregnant women who become sick with COVID-19 shows that there is a higher risk that both the mother and their newborn could be admitted to an intensive care unit in hospital or needing life support ventilation when compared to women who have not had COVID-19. Image adapted from: Mart Productions/Unsplash, CC0 ![]() People trying to become pregnant do not need to delay vaccination for COVID-19 or avoid becoming pregnant after vaccination. Additionally, studies on both humans and animals on the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have not s hown any negative impacts on fertility or pregnancy. In fact, there is strong evidence that vaccination in pregnancy protects against infection, and may even reduce incidence of stillbirth. Large studies on other vaccines have consistently reported no impact on fertility. Studies have also demonstrated that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are really effective at reducing COVID-19 harm in pregnan cy. The chances of serious events like miscarriage or placental abnormalities are similar for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. This is not surprising, as there is no reason to suspect that any of the COVID-19 vaccines should have a negative effect on fertility or pregnancy outcomes. A study of over 35,000 pregnant people in the US who received an mRNA vaccine showed that side effects after vaccination are similar to those experienced by non-pregnant people. Recent studies have shown there is no evidence that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines (such as the Pfizer vaccine) have an impact on pregnancy or fertility. This is a standard measure that gets put in place until clinical trials are complete to ensure vaccine safety. It’s normal for guidelines for trial participants to specify that they should take steps to avoid pregnancy during the trial, and if someone does fall pregnant, they should take extra precautions and notify researchers so that they can be monitored more closely. Researchers developing vaccines take a cautious approach towards pregnant people while vaccines go through clinical trials. The spike proteins, and the genetic instructions your cells use to build them, break down naturally. Once built, these spike proteins will linger in the body just long enough for the immune system to develop antibodies against them. Instead, they prompt the body to create a spike protein-the part of the virus that attaches to a host cell-which is not infectious by itself and cannot be shed out of the body. None of the COVID-19 vaccines are live virus vaccines: there is no way they could spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus. ![]() ![]() By protecting yourself with vaccination, you can help protect others from COVID-19. Even if a vaccinated person sheds some viral particles, it’s extremely rare to spread enough of the virus, and for it to be strong enough, to cause disease in another person. Examples of live virus vaccines used in Australia include the chickenpox and rotavirus vaccines. The viruses in vaccines like these have been permanently altered so they can still reproduce and stimulate an immune response, but they don’t cause disease. The only vaccines with any potential to shed infectious particles from one person to another are live virus vaccines, which are made using a living virus that has been weakened (or attenuated) in a laboratory. This enables the virus to spread and be transmitted from one host to another and is a normal, expected process once someone is infected.įor vaccines, it’s a different story: most vaccines cannot result in shedding of any kind of infectious particles at all. Viral shedding occurs when someone infected with a virus starts to release viral particles from their body into the surrounding environment. ![]() Image adapted from: Jinen Shah/Unsplash CC0 The term ‘shedding’ has come up in some conversations around whether a vaccinated person can affect other people around them-and no, it’s got nothing to do with spending time in small backyard structures or fluffy pets getting ready for summertime. Let’s dive into some of the discussions happening around COVID-19 vaccines, fertility and menstruation to sift through the claims and the evidence. We all want to make the best possible decisions for our health and the health of others-and especially if there’s a new baby on the way. Updated 25 January 2022, first published 22 July 2021Īs COVID-19 vaccines continue to be rolled out across Australia, it makes sense that people will want to share their experiences of vaccination and get a better understanding of possible side effects. Some of those discussions focus on whether vaccines could have any impact on reproductive health: can vaccines affect fertility or pregnancy? Could a vaccinated person have an impact on others around them? And what’s going on with all the stories of people noticing changes in their menstrual cycle? ![]()
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