I don’t think I’ll ever forget getting my first COVID-19 vaccine. I remember making an appointment a state away so we could get the shot in hopes it would return our lives, mine, my child’s and my husband’s, somewhat back to normal. I distinctly remember feeling incredibly hopeful. We had put off trying for a second child during the pandemic because of the uncertainty of the world, and it felt like with this shot, we could finally get back on track with our life plan. But then the reports of vaccine injury start rolling in, along with rumors that the vaccine was causing fertility issues.
As a precaution, we did not get any boosters. But truthfully, we were unable to conceive. I went to a fertility specialist and eventually learned I had PCOS, which was causing our fertility problem, but a part of me wondered if it was my fault for insisting we all get vaccinated.
The data has now seemingly backed up that possibility. Research indicates that after a small post-pandemic baby boom, likely due to the nature of confinement during quarantine, birth rates in the US and other wealthy countries dropped as the dramatic effect of the pandemic eased down.
In the US, the decline hit a record low in 2024. Fertility rates dropped to less than 1.6 children per woman, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This has led to widespread speculation that it was tied to the mRna vaccine. The New York Post recently reported that researchers in Sweden decided to test that theory. A research team looked at a total of 60,000 women between the ages of 18 and 45 living in Region Jönköping County to determine if fertility issues could be tied to vaccination.
Roughly 75% of these women received COVID-19 vaccinations between 2021 and 2024, with 97% of the doses administered being mRNA vaccines.
Researchers determined that comparing childbirth rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated women showed no significant statistical difference between the two groups.
“We’ve also looked at all registered miscarriages among those who became pregnant, and we see no difference between the groups there either,” one of the study authors, Toomas Timpka, a professor of social medicine at Linköping University, shared in a statement. “Our conclusion is that it’s highly unlikely that the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 was behind the decrease in childbirth during the pandemic.”
In fact, it is believed that pregnant women and women attempting to get pregnant should consider getting the vaccine for an extra layer of protection.
The reason for the dropped birthrates could be a myriad of things, and the vaccine is still recommended for pregnant women because experts say “vaccination remains the strongest protection against severe COVID illness, hospitalization and death,” the Post reported.
