COVID vaccines do not affect the functioning of the ovaries or women's fertility in general, a study from Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer has found.

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The research, published in the journal Human Reproduction, was conducted by the Women's Department at Sheba. Dr. Aya Mohr-Sasson led the study, along with Professor Jaron Rabinovici, deputy director of the Josef Buchmann Gynecology and Maternity Center

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.

The women were tested before receiving first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine and again three months after the first dose. In the three-month interval, the subjects received the second dose of the vaccine.

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.

Rabinovici said, "One of the concerns since the COVID vaccine appeared was that it could cause infertility. The study shows that the vaccine does not affect a woman's fertility. As for the future, we know that the vaccines' side effects are short-term, not long-term."

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Iran, facing a fall in fertility rates, has launched a state-approved matchmaking app to promote marriages in the Islamic country which restricts contact between unrelated men and women.

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"Hamdam" (Companion), developed by a state-affiliated Islamic cultural body, requires users to verify their identity and carries out psychological compatibility tests and gives advice for young singles seeking a marriage partner.

The app offers matching and counseling services to prospective couples and their families, and remains in touch with them for four years after marriage, the semi-official news agency Fars reported.

Western-style dating is banned under Iran's Islamic laws but many young people reject traditional arranged marriages and want to decide their own future.

Iranian officials have expressed concern that Iran's population could be among the oldest in the world in two decades after the fertility rate among Iranian women dropped 25% over the past four years, according to Iranian media reports. The fertility rate is about 1.7 children per woman.

Iran started reversing its family planning policies a decade ago, making contraception, which had been available for free, gradually more difficult to get.

In 2014, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an edict that said boosting the population would "strengthen national identity" and counter "undesirable aspects of Western lifestyles."

Iran's parliament has passed provisions to provide financial incentives for childbirth and marriage, including loans and handouts to young married couples with several children.

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A new study published in the journal eLife lays out findings from Professor Noam Sobel's lab, which indicate that women who suffer repeated, unexplained miscarriages perceive a man's body scent different than other women.

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Women were divided into two groups – those who had undergone unexplained miscarriages and those who had not. Researchers found that women in the first group were able to pick out their partner's body scent from a group of other men's scents. The women who had undergone unexplained miscarriages also had slightly better senses of smell than women in the control group.

Additionally, not only were women from the first group better able to identify their partner's body scents, they also perceived the body scent of males in general differently than women in the control group.

"It's possible that doctors aren't finding an explanation for these miscarriages because they're looking in the wrong place – they are checking the reproductive system, whereas the [right] direction might be the nervous system, particularly the part of the brain that detects smells," said Reut Weisgross, who led the research along with Dr. Liron Rosenkrantz and Dr. Tali Weiss.

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