Certain stories circulating social media irresponsibly allege that COVID vaccines could somehow harmfully impact a woman’s fertility. These stories are categorically false, and easily disproven. Scientifically speaking, there is simply no plausible mechanism by which the COVID vaccine affects fertility therefore these spurious rumors are categorically untrue. This dangerous misperception originated in a report that was plainly false, and has since been definitively discredited by the medical and scientific communities.

The suspect theory alleged that COVID vaccines could somehow cause a woman’s body to attack a placenta-based protein called ‘syncytin-1’. This falsehood was based entirely on the finding that syncytin-1 happens to exhibit a scant piece of genetic code in common with a protein of the coronavirus. Just because these proteins have some similarities, there are far more than enough major differences between the two that our sophisticated immune system easily differentiates between the two.

To reiterate, women should entertain absolutely zero concerns about receiving the vaccine prior to conceiving. We know for a categorical fact that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy can be very serious and quite deadly. We recommend that all women get vaccinated before or during pregnancy because vaccination will substantially decrease risk of serious disease to themselves and their babies.