In The News

Our own, Dr. Wendy Shelly of Fertility Specialists Medical Group talks with Neda Iranpour of CBS 8 in San Diego about the effects of the covid vaccine on fertility.

Excerpt from the interview:

Some of the people who may be hesitating on getting the COVID-19 vaccine include those who are hoping to get pregnant. Some women and men are worried about how it may affect their fertility.
She has been relying on doctors at the Fertility Specialists Medical Group through Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF.) Her doctors have suggested she get the COVID-19 vaccine but here’s her take. Patton says, “we’ve been doing this for so long and they’ve got all of my lab work and everything has been monitored so closely and has stayed consistent so introducing something new to it before we reach the end scares me.”
We spoke to one of her doctors, Dr. Wendy Shelly who is a reproductive endocrinologist, trained in infertility. She says, “anybody that is trying to conceive falls in that category of individuals that should be vaccinated if at all possible.”
But Dr. Shelly also recognizes how sensitive and personal this is and she points out misinformation doesn’t help, “this is an incredibly emotional journey and when you have been waiting a long time and working hard and gone through testing, it’s difficult to consider something that you’re hearing rumors that could affect your opportunity.”
So we asked her directly - does the vaccine affect fertility? She says, based on data and research - no.
Dr. Shelly says, “it’s a very safe thing to do and certainly a recommendation." She added, "a majority of my patients have been vaccinated, most have been vaccinated prior to getting pregnant.”
We also asked her if sperm count gets impacted by the vaccine at all. She says related to the vaccine specifically, absolutely not. “There is nothing on a cellular level that the vaccine can do to impact sperm productions.”
What Dr. Shelly does say might happen is – if you get flu-like symptoms from the vaccine then your menstrual cycle or sperm count might be impacted momentarily, as it might when you get a fever or are stressed. But she doesn’t believe that’s enough to ruin your chances of getting pregnant.
COVID-19, Dr. Shelly points out, could hurt fertility much more by leading to more extreme symptoms.