Evaluation and comparative analysis of sperm characteristics in men before and after vaccination with Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac)

Abstract

The study objective is to evaluate reproductive function in men who underwent vaccination with Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) based on quantitative and qualitative sperm characteristics.Materials and methods. Mean ejaculate characteristics were analyzed in 3 independent groups formed from patients examined at the Laboratory of Genetics of Impaired Reproduction of the Research Center for Medical Genetics in 2021: the comparison group consisted of 759 unvaccinated men; the group of 73 men who were vaccinated with Sputnik V and for whom the time between the full vaccination (2 components of the vaccine) and semen analysis was less than 75 days; and the group of 58 men who underwent vaccination more than 75 days prior to semen analysis.The results of semen analysis of 53 patients before and after full vaccination procedure were compared. In 32 patients, less than 75 days passed since vaccination; in 21 patients, more than 75 days; for 5 patients data prior to 75 days since vaccination and after are available.The study group included patients without history of COVID-19. Standard semen analysis was performed in accordance with the World Health Organization Guidelines. For statistical analysis of the differences between the groups Student's t-test was used with significance level of p <0.05.Results. Comparison of semen analysis of the same patients before and after vaccination procedure showed no statistically significant differences. Small decrease in progressive motility was observed (from 19.0 ± 0.4 to 13.8 ± 1.1 %), as well as decline in sperm morphology (from 4.53 ± 0.12 to 3.55 ± 0.31 %) in the group who underwent vaccination less than 75 days prior to the analysis. In the group who underwent vaccination more than 75 days before semen analysis, sperm characteristics do not differ from the unvaccinated group.Conclusion. There were no statistically significant differences in the ejaculate indices of the same patients before and after vaccination with Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac). In the group of patients examined in a short time after vaccination, there is a decrease in the quality of sperm compared to the comparison group (unvaccinated). In the group of patients examined in a more distant period, there are no significant differences in the quality of sperm from the group of unvaccinated, which indicates the absence of long-term consequences of vaccination for the quality of ejaculate.