Will Procreation Ever Be The Same After COVID-19?

Abstract

Medically assisted procreation will never be the same again after this China Virus epidemic. With billions of lives being affected by this damaging global pandemic, medically assisted procreation services were not left unharmed with far-reaching consequences. New challenges are now emerging concerning COVID-19, such as associated reproductive implications and the consequences of assisted and natural procreation in the presence of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and delayed consequences after patient recovery. There is a hypothesis that testicular damage and subsequent infertility may result following COVID-19 infection and the possibility of sexual transmission, as SARS-CoV-2 has been identified in the semen of infected patients. Vaccine hesitancy in young women planning pregnancies has been heightened because of the spread of misinformation on social media stating that COVID-19 vaccines will cause sterility in women. Reassuring data from accidental pregnancies that have occurred in the clinical trials of approved COVID-19 vaccines indicate that vaccination does not harm fertility or increase the rate of miscarriage. Scientists have quickly related to good tissue practices in vitro fertilization and a rethink is on about encouraging biopsies and focusing on safe vitrification protocols keeping in mind that ova, sperm, and embryos could be possible vectors for disease transmission with the limited research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Going ahead with segmented IVF without delay, freezing the generated embryos and pushing back the embryo transfer after the pandemic appears to be the best strategy at present. An international group of researchers have proposed a prognostic stratification of more vulnerable infertility cases in order to plan a progressive restart of worldwide fertility treatments.