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Fertility and pap smears

The Claim:

An OB-GYN is making a name for herself by claiming that the COVID vaccine is tied to a 50% decrease in fertility, a 50% increase in miscarriages, and a 25% increase in abnormal pap smears.

The Facts:

Like many vaccine naysayers, this doctor connects her personal experiences to vaccination, making the supposed correlation do a lot of heavy lifting as proof of causation. As a scientist, she should know that anecdotes do not make for proof and correlation does not imply causation.

Behind these claims may be real evidence that vaccination (and COVID disease) may slightly and temporarily lengthen someone’s menstrual cycle. Despite these findings and the suggestions of the naysayers, COVID vaccines do not make anyone of any gender less likely to conceive a baby and they do not cause miscarriages.

As to the pap smear claims, most abnormal pap smears are caused by HPV, which is, of course, vaccine-preventable. Those abnormal results not caused by HPV are caused by sexually transmitted diseases or bacterial or yeast infections. Vaccines cannot cause any of those things.

Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved too since this was originally posted. Be sure to check out our most recent posts and browse the latest Just the Facts Topics for the latest.

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