New study finds rats injected intramuscularly with human-equivalent mRNA doses suffered irreversible loss of primordial follicles — the foundation of fertility.
…Here’s what the study found in simple terms:
Severe Destruction of Ovarian Reserve
- Rats injected intramuscularly with a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine — at a human-equivalent dose — experienced a >60% reduction in primordial follicles, the foundational egg supply for future fertility (p < 0.001).
- The inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac) also caused loss, but to a lesser extent.
Damage Targets Non-Renewable Egg Supply
- The primordial follicle pool is finite and non-regenerating — females are born with all the eggs they will ever have.
- Destruction of this pool is irreversible, leading to permanent fertility loss if translated to humans.
Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) Levels Crashed
- AMH, a hormone reflecting ovarian reserve, dropped significantly in the mRNA group — both in serum and in ovarian tissue (p < 0.001).
- Lower AMH is associated with poor fertility outcomes and earlier menopause.
Elevated Cell Death and Inflammatory Signals
- Increased expression of caspase-3 (a cell-death enzyme) and inflammatory markers like TGF-β1 and VEGF were found in vaccinated rats.
- These biomarkers are linked to ovarian atresia, fibrosis, and long-term tissue damage.
More Severe Effects with mRNA Vaccines
- Compared to the inactivated vaccine, the mRNA group had:
- Fewer growing follicles (primary, secondary, antral, preovulatory)
- More dying follicles (atretic)
- Greater reductions in hormone markers of fertility
If these findings indeed apply to humans, the implications for global fertility rates are profound. This kind of damage — to a woman’s lifelong egg supply — is biologically irreversible.
Unfortunately, a recent study by Manniche et al indicates that these ovarian reserve destruction findings likely DO translate to humans. Among ~1.3 million Czech women aged 18–39, those vaccinated against COVID-19 had ~33% fewer successful pregnancies compared to unvaccinated women: