World J Mens Health.  2022 Oct;40(4):561-569. 10.5534/wjmh.220055.

mRNA and Viral Vector COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Affect Male Fertility: A Prospective Study

• Massarotti C
• Stigliani S
• Maccarini E
• Bovis F
• Ferraro MF
• Gazzo I
• Anserini P
• Scaruffi P

• KMID: 2537105
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5534/wjmh.220055

Abstract

Purpose
To assess whether mRNA and viral vector coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines detrimentally affected semen parameters.
Materials and Methods
In this prospective study, we enrolled 101 men vaccinated for COVID-19 (76% received mRNA vaccines, 20% viral vector vaccines, 2% a mixed formulation, and for 2 men no information about vaccine type was available) in 2021 and with a previous semen analysis. For each man we compared semen parameters before and after vaccination.
Results
Post-vaccine samples were obtained at a median of 2.3±1.5 months after the second dose. After vaccination, the median sample volume significantly decreased (from 3.0 to 2.6 mL, p=0.036), whereas the median sperm concentration, the progressive motility, and total motile sperm count increased (from 25.0 to 43.0 million/mL, p<0.0001; from 50% to 56%, p=0.022; from 34.8 to 54.6 million, p<0.0001, respectively). Thirty-four patients were oligospermic before the vaccine, and also in these patients we observed a significant increase of sperm parameters after vaccine. Finally, we confirmed the aforementioned results in men who received a mRNA or a viral vector vaccine.
Conclusions
The semen parameters following COVID-19 vaccination did not reflect any causative detrimental effect from vaccination, and for the first time we demonstrated that this applies to both mRNA and viral-vector vaccines. The known individual variation in semen and the reduced abstinence time before the post-vaccine sample collection may explain the increases in sperm parameters.

Keyword

COVID-19; Infertility; male; Semen analysis; Vaccines; synthetic