Many women have read online recently, or been told by healthcare providers, friends and family alike about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine on the ovaries. The initial report stated that the vaccine accumulated in a woman's ovaries and could cause miscarriages and eventually cancer. BBC News says that report is misleading.

That claim has now been discredited by BBC News. The outlet says "FALSE". BBC News says that information came from a "misreading" of a study submitted to the Japanese regulator.

The study involved giving rats a much higher dose of vaccine than that given to humans (1,333 times higher)

Only 0.1% of the total dose ended up in the animals' ovaries, 48 hours after injection.

Far more - 53% after one hour and 25% after 48 hours - was found at the injection site (in humans, usually the arm). The next most common place was the liver (16% after 48 hours), which helps get rid of waste products from the blood. -BBC News

As COVID makes a resurgence in the U.S., the Delta and Delta-plus variants are wreaking havoc on the healthcare systems around the country. Unlike the original onset of the coronavirus, the Delta variants are affecting more young people than ever before. There's another group of people the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is especially concerned about, pregnant women and their unborn babies and women who are thinking about having a baby.

The CDC is now urging all pregnant women and women who are thinking about getting pregnant to please get vaccinated against COVID-19.

CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19. The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people. -CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on cdc.gov

 

What you need to know according to the CDC

The CDC recommends the COVID-19 vaccination for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future.

Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing. These data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy.

There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.

The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people. -CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky

The CDC claims the vaccine did not increase the number of miscarriages in women who took the shot.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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