By Charles Lotara

On 30^th September 2021, the government of South Sudan completed the inoculation of the second consignment of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. Out of the 59,520 doses, 59,224 were used while 296 expired according to Mabior Kiir Kudior, the Chief of Planning and Information at the Ministry of Health.

However, the government says the rate of turn up for the vaccine was alarmingly low among women. Of the total population vaccinated so far, women account for only 26.4 percent as compared to 73.6 rate among their male counterparts.

The reluctance by women to take the jab was attributed to claims that COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility and that this particular side effect was more adverse in females as the vaccine complicates the reproductive system.

“There are continued misconceptions and myths surrounding COVID-19 and our people don’t adhere to the vaccine and also people do not have the willingness to take the vaccine,” Mabior Kiir Kudior lamented in an interview with The City Review.

Infertility myth

The claim that COVID-19 vaccines breed infertility started in December 2020 after a German epidemiologist said the vaccines might make women’s bodies resistant to protein that is connected to placenta, and hence, making women infertile.

His thought was based on the perspective that the genetic code of the placenta protein, called syncytin-1, shares a hint of similarity with the genetic code of the spike protein in COVID-19. If the vaccines caused our bodies to make antibodies to protect us from COVID-19, he thought, they could also make antibodies to reject the placenta.

However, D’Angela Pitts, a maternal medicine specialist at America-based Henry Ford Health System dismissed the claim calling it “inaccurate”.

“It’s inaccurate to say that COVID-19’s spike protein and this placenta protein share a similar genetic code. The proteins are not similar enough to cause placenta to not attach to an embryo,” she said.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also disproved the claim. CDC says “COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for everyone 12 years of age and older, including people who are trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.”

No reports on COVID-19-induced infertility

According to the South Sudan Ministry of Health, there have been and are still no reports of women who reported an incident of failed pregnancy after getting vaccinated for the coronavirus.

On 15^th September 2021, Dr. Victoria Anib Majur, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health, appealed to women to turn up for inoculation assuring them that both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines are safe.

“I want to make a call to women out there that Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca are safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 prevention. I want to encourage you not to listen to rumors out there that the vaccines cause infertility; the vaccines do not cause infertility,” Anib told 211 Check.

Conclusion:

We rate the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine causes female infertility as FALSE because it is not supported by our research. Experts say getting the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t trigger an immune response leading to female infertility.

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