Effect of pfizer/biontech and sinovac/coronavac vaccines on semen parameters in infertile patients with idiopathic infertility: a single-center cohort study

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the effects of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines on semen parameters in patients with idiopathic infertility who visited our urology clinic. Materials and Methods: Patients who visited our andrology clinic between January 2021 and April 2022 after the vaccines were made available for the population aged 18 years and above were included in the study. Sperm parameters of patients before and after vaccination with two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Sinovac/CoronaVac were retrospectively evaluated and compared using the hospital’s patient information system. Semen samples obtained from the patients were evaluated in our andrology laboratory. The age, body mass index (BMI), semen analyses, and intervals between the two doses of vaccines and the second semen analysis of the patients were recorded. Spermogram data before and after vaccination of 65 patients, including 17 Sinovac/CoronaVac and 48 Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinated patients, were divided into two groups and compared in terms of semen volume, semen pH, total sperm count, sperm motility, and morphology. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of the vaccine interval, BMI, or age between the groups. Although no significant differences were found in terms of volume, pH, total motility, and percentage of motile sperm, the total sperm count and sperm count per milliliter decreased significantly in the Sinovac/CoronaVac group and increased significantly in the Pfizer/BioNTech group. Before and after vaccination, a decrease in total sperm count was observed in the Sinovac/CoronaVac group and a decrease in pH was observed in the Sinovac/CoronaVac and Pfizer/BioNTech groups. Conclusion: Our findings show that the total sperm count and the sperm count per milliliter decreased significantly among idiopathic infertile patients who received Sinovac/CoronaVac but increased significantly among those who received Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines