Dr. John Storment, medical director for Fertility Answers in Lafayette, said for years he has watched thousands of couples come into the clinic wanting one thing.
"It's hard for patients, especially my infertility patients, if they've been trying to conceive for 1, 2, 5, 10 years---they finally get pregnant and they're sitting here at 8 weeks pregnant with a heartbeat and they don't want to screw anything up," Storment said. "They will essentially wrap themselves in bubble wrap for the next seven months in order to protect this thing that they wanted for so long."
With Covid-19 present, the fear is much greater even with a vaccine.
Dr. Storment said the concern that he has hear most from patients is that the vaccine is new and there is no way to tell if it will impact fertility.
"It's almost impossible for that to occur because it's a natural immune response against a foreign thing," Storment said. "It's not going to impact fertility."
This is how the COVID vaccine works:
In other words, "The analogy that we would make is you're going to have some anti virus software and email it to me," Storment explained. "It goes into my hard drive and my hard drive will make an anti virus and it prevents that virus from spreading to my computer. That's what is happening with the COVID vaccine. You're not injecting a live virus so it won't have the same impact."
Storment said, while the unknown can be scary, the vaccine can ultimately protect your future and the future of your unborn baby.
"If you are pregnant and you get COVID your pregnancy is an immuno compromised state," Storment said. "You have a high incident of being in the ICU, mechanical ventilation and even death. I tell my patients who are trying to get pregnant or who are pregnant that the benefit of having the covid vaccine to prevent you from developing the disease is much better than theoretical risk of the vaccine."
No matter what side you are on, vaccination or not, Storment said it is about making an informed decision and ultimately what you feel is right for you and your family.
