Met Gala tickets reportedly cost around $ 35,000. But in 2021, even if you had the money that you couldn’t get in without another ticket, you can get it for free: proof that you received the Covid-19 vaccine, which is known to prevent serious illness and death.
This compulsory Covid-19 vaccination was enough to prevent at least one person from attending the event: Nicki Minaj. Instead, Minaj shared her hesitation and, unfortunately, some misinformation about vaccines on Twitter.
In particular, she told an anecdote about a cousin’s friend who Minaj claimed became impotent after receiving the vaccine, suffered from some swollen eggs, and was then abandoned by his fiancé.
Urologists have since responded to this tweet with a common message: there is no evidence that Covid-19 vaccines cause male infertility. Meanwhile, Minaj herself admitted that she’ll likely get vaccinated before going on tour. Regardless, this tweet was shared out of context about 20,000 times.
Minaj’s tweet hit a sweet spot regarding Covid-19 misinformation. It’s a memorable personal anecdote (many vaccine misinformation sites rely on such anecdotes) based on a common but unfounded fear: infertility from vaccines.
The good news is that research is easy to debunk the infertility myth, says Ranjith Ramasamy, director of male reproductive medicine and surgery for the University of Miami Health System.
“There is no current evidence that any of the Covid-19 vaccines available in the US have a negative impact on male fertility,” he told Inverse.
Instead, Covid-19 is linked to male fertility in a different way: studies show it negatively affects the male reproductive system in a number of ways, including disrupting sperm production, promoting erectile dysfunction, and targeting the testes.
Do Vaccinations Cause Infertility?
Ramasamy is the lead author of a research letter published in JAMA that examines the effects of mRNA vaccines on semen parameters (factors such as sperm concentration). Sperm parameters aren’t the only way to measure fertility in men, but they are a basic measure, report Ramasamy and his team.
This study collected semen samples from 45 men ages 18 to 50, who provided the team with two semen samples: one before their first vaccination dose and a second sample about 75 days after the second dose.
The median sperm concentration actually increased after the men received their second vaccine. These increases were in the normal range (no evidence that vaccines positively affect sperm factors) so the vaccine does not negatively affect sperm.
This study is small, but it suggests that the vaccines have no effect on male fertility. Ramasamy says this takeout fits what we know about vaccines in general: “There is no verified evidence that vaccines on the market affect male fertility,” he says.
The bigger problem is that there is evidence that Covid-19 is related to other fertility problems in men, such as erectile dysfunction.
In May 2021, Ramasamy published another small study in the World Journal of Men’s Health examining the penile tissue of two men who had gotten Covid-19 and later developed severe erectile dysfunction (ED). You were compared to two other men who did not get Covid-19 but also had ED.
Tissue samples from men who had recovered from Covid-19 still contained virus particles after the disease subsided. These men also had lower levels of an enzyme (endothelial nitric oxide synthase), which is a marker of endothelial function and plays a key role in achieving an erection, compared to men who have never had Covid-19.
This was a small study and couldn’t prove that Covid-19 was the cause of ED in these men. However, it suggests that the virus has the potential to cause fertility problems in men, while the vaccine has not shown such a link.
What about the swollen balls? – Millions of people have received Covid-19 vaccines either in clinical trials or in the real world. Reports of swollen testicles are not listed among the most common side effects of vaccination.
The more people vaccinated, the more potential side effects there are. However, it is unlikely that Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen testicles are an example of a particularly rare or unreported side effect. Ramasamy says there is no evidence that vaccines can cause orchitis (also known as puffy balls).
“On the contrary, orchitis is a side effect that is occasionally seen in men who have an active Covid-19 infection,” he says.
Covid-19 related swollen balls could have a similar cause as Covid-19 related erectile dysfunction. As Ramasamy explains, the virus can cross the blood-testicular barrier and “stay there for months after recovery”.
Minaj’s “cousin’s friend” is undoubtedly going through a difficult time. But the laundry list of reproductive and relationship problems likely isn’t caused by vaccinations.
In fact, a vaccine might have solved them.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/15/covid-19-vaccine-and-infertility-reproductive-expert-fact-checks-claims/
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