Vaccines Do Not Affect Male Fertility

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COVID UPDATE

According to a study by University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines do not affect male fertility, which should help further address concerns about safety and adverse effects.¹

“Vaccine hesitancy is a barrier to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, and we believe some of that hesitancy is due to public opinion about whether the vaccine might negatively affect fertility,” said senior study author Ranjith Ramasamy, MD, associate professor and director of the Miller School’s Reproductive Urology Program.²

Researchers studied 45 healthy male participants between the ages of 18-35 who received either the Moderna or the Pfizer-BioNTech. None of these men had any fertility issues at the study’s start. The participants provided a semen sample before receiving the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, then provided another sample about 70 days after the second dose.

Researchers did not observe reductions in any sperm parameters, including semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, and total motile sperm count.

“This is the full life cycle of sperm and 70 days is sufficient time to see if the vaccine impacts semen parameters,” said the study’s first author, Daniel C. Gonzalez, BSc, a medical student at the Miller School. “We measured semen volume, sperm concentration and the total amount of moving sperm and found there were no declines in any of the parameters as compared to the baseline analysis.”

The study’s findings suggest the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not impact male fertility. This could have huge implications for lowering vaccine hesitancy.

“We were the first to demonstrate that the COVID virus, itself, can affect male fertility and be a potential cause for erectile dysfunction. We are now the first to examine if there is any impact of the COVID vaccine on male fertility potential, which we did not find,” Ramasamy said further.^3,4

References

1. Gonzales DC, Nassau DE, Khodamoradi K, et al. Sperm parameters before and after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. JAMA. 2021. Online ahead of print.

2. University of Miami Health System. University of Miami Miller School study shows COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not impact male fertility. News release. June 17, 2021. Accessed June 23, 2021. https://www.newswise.com/coronavirus/university-of-miami-miller-school-study-shows-covid-19-mrna-vaccines-do-not-impact-male-fertility/?article_id=752972

3. Broderick JM. Study shows COVID-19 vaccines do not affect male fertility. Urology Times. June 18, 2021. Accessed June 23, 2021. https://www.urologytimes.com/view/study-shows-covid-19-vaccines-do-not-affect-male-fertility

4. Hilton L. COVID-19 can invade testis tissue in some men who are infected with the virus, according to a new study by University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers published in The World Journal of Men's Health. University of Miami Health System. November 5, 2020. Accessed June 23, 2021. https://physician-news.umiamihealth.org/covid-19-can-infect-testes-with-potential-implications-for-male-fertility/