COVID-19 Vaccination and Reproductive Health: a Comprehensive Review for Healthcare Providers

Reprod Sci. 2024 May;31(5):1215-1226. doi: 10.1007/s43032-023-01428-0. Epub 2023 Dec 27.

Abstract

With all the current misinformation on social media platforms about the COVID-19 vaccine and its potential effects on fertility, it is essential for healthcare providers to have evidenced-based research to educate their patients, especially those who are trying to conceive, of the risks to mothers and fetuses of being unvaccinated. It is well known that COVID-19 infection puts pregnant women at higher risk of complications, including ICU admission, placentitis, stillbirth, and death. In February of 2021, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) released a statement denying any link between COVID vaccination and infertility. ASRM later confirmed and stated that "everyone, including pregnant women and those seeking to become pregnant, should get a COVID-19 vaccine". In this review, we aim to provide a compilation of data that denies any link between vaccination and infertility for healthcare providers to be able to educate their patients based on evidence-based medicine. We also reviewed the effect of COVID-19 virus and vaccination on various parameters and processes that are essential to obtaining a successful pregnancy.

Keywords: Assisted reproductive technology (ART); COVID-19; Fertility; In vitro fertilization (IVF); Pregnancy; Vaccine.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19 Vaccines* / administration & dosage
  • COVID-19 Vaccines* / adverse effects
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Female
  • Health Personnel*
  • Humans
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / prevention & control
  • Reproductive Health*
  • SARS-CoV-2 / immunology
  • Vaccination / adverse effects

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines