OB-GYN debunks claim coronavirus vaccine leads to infertility

A pregnant woman is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 at a vaccination center in Medellin, Colombia on July 24, 2021. - Colombia started to inoculate pregnant women who have three months of pregnancy or more. (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP) (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There have been false and misleading claims about the coronavirus vaccine since the beginning. One of these misconceptions is causing some people to remain firm against vaccination: couples planning to conceive.

There have been whispers floating around that the vaccine leads to infertility. As couples make decisions during this time whether to bring a little one into this world, many are concerned that – if vaccinated – they won’t be able to have children.

“Certainly any woman who wants to get pregnant is going to be cautious about what she puts in her body,” Dr. Cameual Wright, chief medical officer at CareSource, told News 8. “So it’s understandable that women may be nervous about getting the shot.”

But Wright wants couples to know the coronavirus vaccines have been vigorously studied and there is no evidence to support this claim. Thought leaders who deal with women trying to conceive have endorsed the vaccine and assure it is both safe and effective for women who are pregnant. It is also equally safe and effective for couples planning a pregnancy in the future.

Those thought leaders include scientists at the CDC, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as the Society of Internal Fetal Medicine.

What’s more, Wright adds, is during the initial clinical trials some enrolled participants weren’t pregnant to begin with, but then got pregnant during the trial. All of those women, she says, went on to have normal, healthy babies.