Doctors dismissed rumours spreading online that suggest having a Covid-19 vaccine could affect fertility as nonsense.
The false claims are widely seen by experts as the latest round of misinformation from anti-vaxxers, who believe unfounded suggestions that vaccinations cause harm.
Despite being untrue, such rumours are blamed in part for "vaccine hesitancy" – a reluctance to be vaccinated – which could hamper efforts to control the pandemic.
Prof Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases specialist and professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia in the UK, said "somebody is putting out a lie" suggesting vaccination reduces fertility.
It's anti-vaxxers spreading more lies and misinformation ... It's nonsense and it should be treated as nonsense
“I cannot see how it would feasibly do that, knowing how these vaccines work,” he said.
"If people are going to make these statements, they have to produce hard evidence, otherwise we have to take them as made up.
"It's anti-vaxxers spreading more lies and misinformation ... it's nonsense and it should be treated as nonsense."
Writing in The New York Times this week, Prof Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, and one of her postgraduate students, Alice Lu-Culligan, branded a claim that the vaccine generates antibodies that affect a protein in the placenta as "completely false".
One suggestion, they said, is that the protein in question, syncytin-1, is similar to the coronavirus spike protein, leading to the idea that antibodies produced by vaccination could harm a developing child.
But in laboratory tests the researchers found no reaction between antibodies collected from women with Covid-19 and syncytin-1, nor did they identify any significant similarities between this protein and the coronavirus spike protein.
They also pointed out that there had been no reports of infertility in women who have recovered after being infected with the coronavirus.
Dr Andrew Freedman, an infectious diseases specialist at Cardiff University in the UK, said there were "so many false rumours around", and dismissed suggestions that vaccination harmed fertility.
"There's no evidence and there's no conceivable mechanism I can think of why that would be the case," he said.
"I presume it comes from anti-vaxxers with no evidence at all."
Similarly, there is no evidence that vaccination causes male infertility, and a study being conducted by the University of Miami that analyses the effect of an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine is expected to confirm this.
Researchers behind that study have, however, found that the virus can harm sperm production and that it can linger inside the testes, raising the prospect – as yet unconfirmed – that infection could potentially affect male fertility.
While there is no evidence Covid-19 vaccines harm fertility, there is caution about giving the jabs to pregnant women because – as is normal practice – they were not included in clinical trials.
Typically, it is recommended that pregnant women are not given vaccines made from live attenuated pathogens (which can replicate but not lead to disease), because there are concerns the pathogen could multiply in the foetus. However, none of the Covid-19 vaccines being administered contain live attenuated pathogens, so the risk of harm from vaccination during pregnancy is thought to be very low.
Tests on animals during pregnancy have not highlighted potential problems with coronavirus vaccines – another indication that there are unlikely to be issues if pregnant women are vaccinated.
Regulators suggest pregnant women be vaccinated only if she has specific medical conditions, such as heart disease, chronic kidney disease, or severe respiratory conditions, that put her at greater risk should she become infected with Covid-19.
Officials suggest that women who are at greater risk of catching the coronavirus, perhaps because of their work, may want to discuss getting vaccinated.
"In general terms, a woman who's pregnant [and who works] in an office or something like that, you probably wouldn't give them a vaccine, but if it was a pregnant nurse who works in a Covid ward, probably, after discussing it with the nurse herself, you would decide to go ahead with it," Prof Hunter said.
Pregnant women are more at risk of severe symptoms if infected, leading some countries, such as Israel, to include them in a vaccine programme.
Compared with other women of the same age, pregnant women with Covid-19 are more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit, to be put on a ventilator and to die, although the risks are not thought to be as great as those faced by, for example, the elderly.
In other advice from national regulators, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US said a pregnancy test before being given a coronavirus vaccination is not necessary, and it is safe to become pregnant after being inoculated.
Meanwhile, there are no known risks from giving coronavirus vaccines to breastfeeding women, according to the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, although officials stress there is limited data.
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Baftas 2020 winners
BEST FILM
- 1917 - Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Jayne-Ann Tenggren
- THE IRISHMAN - Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
- JOKER - Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae
DIRECTOR
- 1917 - Sam Mendes
- THE IRISHMAN - Martin Scorsese
- JOKER - Todd Phillips
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
- 1917 - Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
- BAIT - Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- ROCKETMAN - Dexter Fletcher, Adam Bohling, David Furnish, David Reid, Matthew Vaughn, Lee Hall
- SORRY WE MISSED YOU - Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
- THE TWO POPES - Fernando Meirelles, Jonathan Eirich, Dan Lin, Tracey Seaward, Anthony McCarten
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
- THE FAREWELL - Lulu Wang, Daniele Melia
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- PAIN AND GLORY - Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE - Céline Sciamma, Bénédicte Couvreur
LEADING ACTRESS
- JESSIE BUCKLEY - Wild Rose
- SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Marriage Story
- SAOIRSE RONAN - Little Women
- CHARLIZE THERON - Bombshell
- RENÉE ZELLWEGER - Judy
LEADING ACTOR
- LEONARDO DICAPRIO - Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
- ADAM DRIVER - Marriage Story
- TARON EGERTON - Rocketman
- JOAQUIN PHOENIX - Joker
- JONATHAN PRYCE - The Two Popes
SUPPORTING ACTOR
- TOM HANKS - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- ANTHONY HOPKINS - The Two Popes
- AL PACINO - The Irishman
- JOE PESCI - The Irishman
- BRAD PITT - Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- LAURA DERN - Marriage Story
- SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Jojo Rabbit
- FLORENCE PUGH - Little Women
- MARGOT ROBBIE - Bombshell
- MARGOT ROBBIE - Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- THE IRISHMAN - Steven Zaillian
- JOJO RABBIT - Taika Waititi
- JOKER - Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
- LITTLE WOMEN - Greta Gerwig
- THE TWO POPES - Anthony McCarten
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- BOOKSMART - Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
- KNIVES OUT - Rian Johnson
- MARRIAGE STORY - Noah Baumbach
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Han Jin Won, Bong Joon ho
DOCUMENTARY
- AMERICAN FACTORY - Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
- APOLLO 11 - Todd Douglas Miller
- DIEGO MARADONA - Asif Kapadia
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- THE GREAT HACK - Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaime
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
- BAIT - Mark Jenkin (Writer/Director), Kate Byers, Linn Waite (Producers)
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab (Director/Producer), Edward Watts (Director)
- MAIDEN - Alex Holmes (Director)
- ONLY YOU - Harry Wootliff (Writer/Director)
- RETABLO - Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio (Writer/Director)
ANIMATED FILM
- FROZEN 2 - Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho
- KLAUS - Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh
- A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON - Will Becher, Richard Phelan, Paul Kewley
- TOY STORY 4 - Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen
CASTING
- JOKER - Shayna Markowitz
- MARRIAGE STORY - Douglas Aibel, Francine Maisler
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Victoria Thomas
- THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD - Sarah Crowe
- THE TWO POPES - Nina Gold
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
- AWKWAFINA
- JACK LOWDEN
- KAITLYN DEVER
- KELVIN HARRISON JR.
- MICHEAL WARD
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- 1917 - Roger Deakins
- THE IRISHMAN - Rodrigo Prieto
- JOKER - Lawrence Sher
- LE MANS ’66 - Phedon Papamichael
- THE LIGHTHOUSE - Jarin Blaschke
EDITING
- THE IRISHMAN - Thelma Schoonmaker
- JOJO RABBIT - Tom Eagles
- JOKER - Jeff Groth
- LE MANS ’66 - Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Fred Raskin
COSTUME DESIGN
- THE IRISHMAN - Christopher Peterson, Sandy Powell
- JOJO RABBIT - Mayes C. Rubeo
- JUDY - Jany Temime
- LITTLE WOMEN - Jacqueline Durran
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Arianne Phillips
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- 1917 - Dennis Gassner, Lee Sandales
- THE IRISHMAN - Bob Shaw, Regina Graves
- JOJO RABBIT - Ra Vincent, Nora Sopková
- JOKER - Mark Friedberg, Kris Moran
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Barbara Ling, Nancy Haigh
SOUND
- 1917 - Scott Millan, Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson
- JOKER - Tod Maitland, Alan Robert Murray, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic
- LE MANS ’66 - David Giammarco, Paul Massey, Steven A. Morrow, Donald Sylvester
- ROCKETMAN - Matthew Collinge, John Hayes, Mike Prestwood Smith, Danny Sheehan
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood
ORIGINAL SCORE
- 1917 - Thomas Newman
- JOJO RABBIT - Michael Giacchino
- JOKER - Hildur Guđnadóttir
- LITTLE WOMEN - Alexandre Desplat
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - John Williams
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
- 1917 - Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, Dominic Tuohy
- AVENGERS: ENDGAME - Dan Deleeuw, Dan Sudick
- THE IRISHMAN - Leandro Estebecorena, Stephane Grabli, Pablo Helman
- THE LION KING - Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, Elliot Newman, Adam Valdez
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy
MAKE UP & HAIR
- 1917 - Naomi Donne
- BOMBSHELL - Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan
- JOKER - Kay Georgiou, Nicki Ledermann
- JUDY - Jeremy Woodhead
- ROCKETMAN - Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
BRITISH SHORT FILM
- AZAAR - Myriam Raja, Nathanael Baring
- GOLDFISH - Hector Dockrill, Harri Kamalanathan, Benedict Turnbull, Laura Dockrill
- KAMALI - Sasha Rainbow, Rosalind Croad
- LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) - Carol Dysinger, Elena Andreicheva
- THE TRAP - Lena Headey, Anthony Fitzgerald
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
- GRANDAD WAS A ROMANTIC - Maryam Mohajer
- IN HER BOOTS - Kathrin Steinbacher
- THE MAGIC BOAT - Naaman Azh
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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