COVID vaccines do not affect fertility in either women or men, a new meta-analysis conducted by Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem reports.
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Professor Talia Eldar-Geva, director of the Unit of Endocrinology and Genetics of Fertility at Shaare Zedek, noted that no scientific findings published to date contradicted that conclusion.
One of the main complaints about the vaccine is that it disrupts women's menstrual cycle. However, the meta-analysis did not find that any significant statistical occurrence of disrupted menstrual cycles, either among women studied or in the general public.
According to Eldar-Geva, many factors – hormonal and otherwise – can affect the menstrual cycle, and that even before the COVID vaccines became available, 54% of women in the US reported changes to their monthly periods. Other studies indicated that anywhere form 16-25% of women who contracted the COVID virus also reported temporary or permanent changes to their menstrual cycles.
Eldar-Geva said that by October 2021, the Health Ministry had received some 1,300 reports from women that their cycles had altered after receiving the first dose of the vaccine. This comprises less than one-tenth of the 2 million women of childbearing age who had been vaccinated. Another 2,000 reports came in from women who received the second dose – meaning that some 0.2% of all vaccinated women of childbearing age in Israel reported irregularity in their cycles, the vast majority of which were short-term.
The Shaare Zedek meta-analysis was made public approximately two weeks after researchers at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer reported that COVID vaccines do not affect the functioning of the ovaries or women's fertility in general.
The study investigated the levels of the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) – whose levels indicate a woman's ovarian reserves – among some 200 subjects of childbearing age. A total of 129 women completed all stages of the study.
According to the study, the vaccine had no adverse effect on the women's ovarian functioning, and their AMH levels did not change. The hormone levels remained steady even when the subjects were analyzed by age group.
Sheba Medical Center is currently conducting a follow-up study on girls ages 12-18, as well as tracking the original group of subjects after they received booster shots.
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