Ep7. The Surprise Truths & Myths About Fertility, Menstruation, the Placenta and COVID-19. Expert Guest: Dr Viki Male

Cocooned Health

The Surprise Truths & Myths About Fertility, Menstruation, the Placenta and COVID-19.

Expert Guest: Dr Viki Male

In this episode we explore and debunk the myth that vaccines cause infertility. But we have a surprising finding about COVID-19 infection and fertility. Tune in, to hear more.
Dr Viki Male is a senior lecturer in reproductive immunology based in the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College London. She did her PhD at the University of Cambridge on a particular kind of cell called natural killer cells in human pregnancy. During the pandemic, she was involved in collating and communicating information on the effect of SARS-CoV2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination on fertility, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. She also conducted research on how COVID-19 vaccination affects the menstrual cycle. We will explore some of these areas with her and answer some of our listeners' questions on this topic.

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I heard that getting the COVID-19 vaccine might cause changes to my period. Is this true? Yes, but the changes are small and cycles quickly return to normal.

References for the association of menstrual cycle length with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination:

1. Edelman, Alison et al. “Timing of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination and Effects on Menstrual Cycle Changes.” Obstetrics and gynecology 143,4 (2024): 585-594. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000005550
2. Edelman, Alison et al. “Association between menstrual cycle length and covid-19 vaccination: global, retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data.” BMJ medicine 1,1 (2022): e000297. doi:10.1136/bmjmed-2022-000297
3. Alvergne, Alexandra et al. “Associations Among Menstrual Cycle Length, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and Vaccination.” Obstetrics and gynecology 143,1 (2024): 83-91. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000005343
4. Darney, Blair G et al. “Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination on menstrual bleeding quantity: An observational cohort study.” BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 130,7 (2023): 803-812. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.17471
5. Wesselink, Amelia K et al. “COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual cycle characteristics: A prospective cohort study.” Vaccine 41,29 (2023): 4327-4334. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.06.012

References for how COVID-19 vaccine does not affect fertility:

1. Zaçe D, La Gatta E, Petrella L, Di Pietro ML. The impact of COVID-19 vaccines on fertility-A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vaccine. 2022 Oct 6;40(42):6023-6034. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.09.019. Epub 2022 Sep 12. PMID: 36137903; PMCID: PMC9464596.
2. Zeginiadou, Theodosia et al. “SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) and male fertility: Something we should be worried about?.” Urologia 90,4 (2023): 726-734. doi:10.1177/03915603231175941
3. Omolaoye TS, Adeniji AA, Cardona Maya WD, du Plessis SS. SARS-COV-2 (Covid-19) and male fertility: Where are we? Reprod Toxicol. 2021 Jan;99:65-70. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2020.11.012. Epub 2020 Nov 26. PMID: 33249233; PMCID: PMC7689309.
4. Jennifer J Yland, Amelia K Wesselink, Annette K Regan, Elizabeth E Hatch, Kenneth J Rothman, David A Savitz, Tanran R Wang, Krista F Huybrechts, Sonia Hernández-Díaz, Michael L Eisenberg, Lauren A Wise, A prospective cohort study of preconception COVID-19 vaccination and miscarriage, Human Reproduction, Volume 38, Issue 12, December 2023, Pages 2362–2372
5. Aharon, Devora et al. “In Vitro Fertilization and Early Pregnancy Outcomes After Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination.” Obstetrics and gynecology 139,4 (2022): 490-497. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000004713
6. Bentov, Y et al. “Ovarian follicular function is not altered by SARS-CoV-2 infection or BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.” Human reproduction (Oxford, England) 36,9 (2021): 2506-2513. doi:10.1093/humrep/deab182

References for COVID-19 Infection does impact male sperm and potential reduction in fertility.

1. Zeginiadou, Theodosia et al. “SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) and male fertility: Something we should be worried about?.” Urologia 90,4 (2023): 726-734. doi:10.1177/03915603231175941
2. Omolaoye TS, Adeniji AA, Cardona Maya WD, du Plessis SS. SARS-COV-2 (Covid-19) and male fertility: Where are we? Reprod Toxicol. 2021 Jan;99:65-70. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2020.11.012. Epub 2020 Nov 26. PMID: 33249233; PMCID: PMC7689309.
3. Garrouch, Siwar et al. “Deleterious impact of COVID-19 pandemic: Male fertility was not out of the bag.” PloS one 18,5 e0284489. 8 May. 2023, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0284489
4. Zhang, Qi-Feng et al. “Does COVID-19 affect sperm quality in males? the answer may be yes, but only temporarily.” Virology journal 21,1 24. 23 Jan. 2024, doi:10.1186/s12985-024-02290-5

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Welcome to Cocooned, part of Cocooned Health podcasting. This is your podcast on infections and vaccines in pregnancy and the newborn period.🤱🤰

We are: Dr Eliz Kilich 👩‍⚕️(Infectious Diseases ST4, UK) and Dr Lydia Yarlott 👩‍⚕️(Paediatrics ST4, UK) here to talk to you about evidence about how you can help keep you and your little one safe.

🎤 We generate podcast episodes with expert guest speakers to discuss the latest evidence, to help you understand the public health guidance, and what things you can do to make this period as protected/ cocooned as possible.🎤

Whilst no information is perfect, it changes, we have done our best to bring together information to the best of our knowledge. Information is always subject to change. The views here are our own and do not represent that of any institution or affiliated body although we do discuss public health guidance in general. It is always important to discuss anything we talk about with your own healthcare provider. This is not direct personal medical advice as you are not our patients however, we want to give the public the information we already have, so you are more informed to make your own choices.