Covid vaccines and fertility: Commission rules out correlation
The relationship between anti-Covid vaccination and female fertility is back at the center of European debate. On February 27, 2026, Austrian MEP Gerald Hauser submitted a written question to the European Commission, seeking an account of a study conducted in the Czech Republic that reportedly indicates lower conception rates among women vaccinated against the coronavirus compared to those who are unvaccinated.
The Czech study
The data at the heart of the matter concerns approximately 1.3 million Czech women between the ages of 18 and 39. According to the study, starting at least from June 2021, when the share of vaccinated women had reached about 70% of the female population in that age group, successful conceptions per thousand women were considerably lower in the vaccinated group compared to the unvaccinated group, and significantly below what would have been expected in proportion to their share of the total population.
Hauser recalled that the Commission itself, responding to a previous question of his in September 2025, had stated that long-term safety data for anti-Covid vaccines were “very reassuring, including regarding fertility.” In light of the Czech data, the MP asked Brussels to launch an independent epidemiological investigation at the European level, to indicate which other countries have published similar studies, and to explain why the public is not being proactively informed about this issue.
The Commission’s response
The response, signed by Commissioner Várhelyi on April 28, 2026, is definitive: based on the continuous monitoring of safety data from vaccination campaigns worldwide, there is no scientific evidence of any association between anti-Covid vaccines and an alteration of fertility, in either men or women.
The Commission reiterates that it monitors vaccine safety in collaboration with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Member States through a consolidated pharmacovigilance system. Periodic safety reports for each vaccine are publicly available on the EMA website.
As for the variations in fertility rates observed during the pandemic, Brussels attributes them to behavioral changes related to the emergency period, emphasizing that in most countries studied, birth rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels and that no study has identified a causal effect of the vaccines. Based on these premises, the Commission rules out the need to launch a new specific investigation into the matter.
Regarding transparency toward citizens, the European executive notes that press releases are published after every meeting of the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), and that exceptional measures were adopted during the pandemic to maximize the transparency of regulatory activities regarding anti-Covid medicines.
