A post published on a UK news website and shared on Facebook more than 1,100 times, claiming the Covid-19 vaccines could cause ‘mass male infertility is FALSE.
The story on the Daily Expose cites an interview with Canadian pathologist Roger Hodkinson.
It claims that the spike protein caused by the vaccine could kill unborn babies in current pregnancies and permanently stop men from having children.
The claims have been republished on other websites and widely spread on social media platforms including Twitter and Instagram.
The Star sought to establish the authenticity of the claim.
According to the World Health Organisation, Covid-19 vaccination is recommended for everyone 12 years of age and older.
This includes people who are trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.
Currently, no evidence shows that any vaccines, including Covid-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems (problems trying to get pregnant) in women or men.
In a study published on June 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at the University of Miami reported that they found “no significant decreases in any sperm parameter” among a group of healthy men before and after receipt of the vaccine.
The team collected semen samples of 45 men, 18 and older, before receiving either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine — and again more than 70 days after receiving their second dose.
“This is the full life cycle of sperm and 70 days is sufficient time to see if the vaccine impacts semen parameters,” Daniel C. Gonzalez, a medical student at the university and one of the study’s authors said in a statement.
“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.”
Chairman National Covid-19 Vaccines Taskforce Willis Akhwale told the Star in that his observations in the field rebut the notion that vaccines are detrimental to male fertility.
“I’ve had patients who had fertility testing pre-vaccine and post-vaccine, just by virtue of my practice, and I have not had any patients I can think of who have had any adverse reactions from the vaccines in terms of fertility,” he said.
Edited by N.Agutu
