TY - JOUR T1 - Fertility and COVID-19 vaccination AU - Gershteyn, Iosif M. Y1 - 2022/// JO - Exploration of Immunology VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 8 DO - 10.37349/ei.2022.00032 UR - https://www.explorationpub.com/Journals/ei/Article/100332 AB - One of the most troubling developments of 2021 has been the number of fertile-age women who have been led to believe that mRNA vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 [SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)] can cause infertility via cross-reactivity of immune response. Specifically, cross-reactivity of developed antibodies to syncytin-1, a protein found in human cell fusion, placentation and recently identified in the envelope gene of a human endogenous defective retrovirus, HERV-W (see “Syncytin is a captive retroviral envelope protein involved in human placental morphogenesis”. Nature. 2000;403:785-9. doi: 10.1038/35001608). The mechanism, evidence, and evaluation of the claim is presented concluding in a rejection due to lack of evidence. ER -