Social media users have been circulating images and claims suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccine could lead to infertility in women. The claims purport that the vaccine contains a syncytin-1, spike protein “vital for the formation of the human placenta in women,” and that “If the vaccine works so that we form an immune response AGAINST the spike protein, we are also training the female body to attack syncytin-1, which could lead to infertility…”

The COVID-19 vaccine does not make women infertile. The spike protein of the coronavirus is not similar enough to placental syncytin-1 for the body to treat them equally.

There is also no evidence women who have had COVID-19 have become infertile, rather many have conceived after both infection and after vaccination.

According to the CDC, “experts believe that COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to pose a risk to a person trying to become pregnant in the short or long term…In addition, there is no evidence suggesting that fertility problems are a side effect of ANY vaccine. People who are trying to become pregnant now or who plan to try in the future may receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.”