A study from Sweden’s Linköping University showed that the Covid-19 vaccine is not responsible for the decline in birth rates.
The results of this research were published in the journal Communications Medicine, confirming the incorrectness of the claims linking vaccination to its effect on reproductive ability.
“We conclude that the mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 is unlikely to be behind the decline in the birth rate during the pandemic,” confirmed Thomas Timpka, professor of social medicine at Linköping University.
Rumors about vaccines and fertility
Researchers investigated this issue due to the spread of misinformation, especially on social media, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, stating that vaccination reduces the chances of pregnancy.
In the late stages of the pandemic, some countries, including Sweden, noticed a decline in the number of births, raising questions about whether this was linked to the new vaccines.
In this study, researchers analyzed data on about 60,000 women aged 18 to 45 in Jönköping County (out of a total county population of 369,000).
From 2021 to 2024, 75% of these women received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The researchers used data on births, vaccinations, miscarriages and deaths from health care records.
There is no difference in fertility outcomes
The researchers found no statistically significant differences in birth and miscarriage rates between women who received the vaccine and those who did not.
This is consistent with several previous studies that have shown no association between the COVID-19 vaccine and fertility.
“We did not notice any difference in birth rates between those who received the vaccine and those who did not receive it,” Timpka explained. “We also reviewed all recorded miscarriages among women who became pregnant, and we did not notice any difference between the two groups either.”
Other possible reasons for the decline in births
Researchers believe that there are other, more logical reasons to explain the low birth rate.
The women who are now in their 30s, the most common age group for childbearing, were born in the second half of the 1990s, a period of economic hardship and declining birth rates in Sweden.
In other words, there are fewer potential parents today because birth rates declined thirty years ago.
In addition, pandemic-related factors, such as health and economic concerns and changing behavior during the lockdown period, may have contributed to the decline in births.
