Does Covid jab cause infertility in women?

1. The vaccine causes infertility in young women.

There is no evidence on this. The vaccine has been tested for safety and the trials were first done in animals before people. When scientists use animals, unlike human beings, they have the luxury to dissect and look at the reproductive organs of both male and female animals. No known alarming effect was found during the clinical trials to link the vaccines to infertility.

2. Women on contraceptives are advised against taking the jab.

When the vaccines were being tested, women on contraceptives were also part of the trial group. There was no stark difference between people who were vaccinated and were on contraceptives, and those who were not on a family planning method. They were all protected from severe Covid-19.

3. The vaccine will prevent you from getting Covid-19.

This is not a myth per se, but it could be untrue. A vaccine works at different levels. The first level is preventing one from being infected and that is what scientists hope for when they come up with one. Scientists are now investigating to see that apart from preventing severe disease, vaccines can also protect one from getting infected. It may, or may not as studies are still underway. However, what is known so far is that one can still be infected even after being vaccinated. The primary aim is to prevent severity of the disease or death.

4. The vaccine was hurriedly made, therefore, not efficient.

When the vaccine was approved for emergency use authorisation, people started crucifying scientists for bringing it to light faster than they had hoped. These vaccines did not skip any stage of development. The technology used now, compared to years before, is quite advanced and it played a part in speeding up the process. Also, resources such as money were readily available. Research from diseases with almost similar characteristics to that of Covid-19 such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has also hastened the process of getting the vaccine.

5. I will not need to wear a mask after I have been vaccinated.

The fact that you have been vaccinated does not mean the risk of getting infection has been eliminated. You still need to wear a mask until advised otherwise. That will only be after a notable sufficient reduction in transmission in the country.

6. I do not need to get the vaccine because the protection is not long lasting.

This is a new vaccine. No one has lived in the future to understand how long the vaccine will last. The only way to know how long it lasts is by following up on those who have been vaccinated. Every country is doing so to know how long the immunity lasts. This is not unique to the Covid-19 vaccine. Previous vaccines have gone through a similar process.

7. The vaccine increases libido in men.

Of the side effects that were observed during clinical trials of the vaccine, increasing libido was not one of them.

8. The government is introducing microchips to people’s bodies so as to track them using the vaccines.

A microchip is solid and vaccines are liquid. It is therefore impossible to have a solid microchip inserted into the vaccine to get into the body.

9. Vaccines contain a live virus. Therefore, I could get Covid-19.

There is one vaccine that contains a weakened virus (attenuated vaccine) that is manufactured in China. The one in Kenya, AstraZeneca, introduces only the spike protein (the crown-like thing in a coronavirus image) to trigger antibody formation that will help in fighting the disease but not a live virus as people may assume.

10.  I cannot take the vaccine if I have egg or chicken allergies.

Anytime you go to a hospital and you are asked about allergies, the physician tries to investigate a history of severe allergic reaction. For the Covid-19 vaccine, one is asked to wait for 15 to 3o minutes for observation of any allergic reaction. If that is not observed, then one is free to go home. It is wrong to crucify egg and chicken allergies since that has not been proven yet.