Is men's sperm affected by coronavirus vaccines?
It is true that the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 infection on male and female fertility have not yet been assessed. What has been studied, however, is how the sperm of men is affected by SARS-CoV-2.
Research shows that semen quality parameters appear to be negatively affected among male patients with confirmed COVID-19 compared to healthy individuals, at least in the short term, and correlate with significant impairments in semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm count, sperm motility and morphology and sperm count.
Do Covid-19 vaccines affect sperm?
As Dr. Paraschos, Fertility Specialist, explains, "precisely because SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with a decrease in parameters of sperm quality and quantity, many people think that the COVID-19 vaccine may negatively affect sperm. However, research reported by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and conducted in the US showed the exact opposite. Participating men were vaccinated with the Pfizer and moderna mRNA vaccines.
After the second dose of the vaccine, the median number of sperm per ml of semen increased, and so did the median number of total motile sperm. Sperm volume and sperm motility also increased. The study participants were mainly men without fertility problems. Only eight were oligospermic before the vaccine.
Essentially this research demonstrates that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not have an impact on any aspects of sperm health. The magnitude of the improvement in all sperm parameters was within the normal range, according to the study's findings.
We are not so much interested in the fact that sperm-related parameters increased after the vaccination, but rather that none of the participants became azoospermic after the vaccine," Mr. Paraschos emphasizes.
"Therefore, the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for male fertility. This is the main information that is of interest both to us IVF specialists and to every man who is in the process of reproduction."
