Outcomes of Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation in a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccinated Population 3-13 Months after Vaccination

Gilad Karavani 1 Henry H. Chill 3 Aharon Dick 2 Cherut Meirman 4 Einat Gutman-Ido 2 Shmuel Herzberg 1 Assaf Ben-Meir 1 Tal Imbar 1
1Infertility and IVF Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,, Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Israel
2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Israel
3Division of Urogynecology, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Skokie, IL, USA.
4Department of Family Medicine, Rabin Medical Center and Tel Aviv & Dan districts, Clalit, Israel

Introduction:
Previous studies have reported on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine short-term (up to 6 months) safety in women of reproductive age, with no adverse effects on fertility and reproductive function, while data on longer intervals between vaccination and IVF treatment remains scarce.

Aim:
To evaluate elective oocyte cryopreservation (EOC) outcomes in women 3 to 13 months after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and assess whether different time intervals between vaccination and ovarian hyperstimulation impact these outcomes.

Materials and Methods:
This retrospective cohort study, conducted at the Hadassah Medical Center In-vitro Fertilization unit, included 255 EOC cycles of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, without previous infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, between January 2019 and January 2022. Two control groups – pre-pandemic (January 2019 – February 2020) and intra-pandemic (January 2021 – January 2022) unvaccinated groups were compared to the vaccinated group, further divided into three subgroups (3-6, 6-9 and 9-13 months). The primary outcome was EOC cycles outcomes - number of retrieved and mature oocytes.

Results:
The vaccinated group demonstrated comparable outcomes with regards to number of retrieved and mature oocytes compared to the pre-pandemic and intra-pandemic unvaccinated groups (12.9±7.8 vs. 13.0±8.2 and 12.5±7.4 retrieved and 10.6±6.9 vs. 9.5±6.4 and 10.1±6.3 mature oocytes, respectively; NS). Similar results were noted in a comparison between the intra-pandemic unvaccinated group and the three vaccinated subgroups. No correlation was found between the parameter of days from vaccination and cycle outcomes.

Conclusions:
The SARS-CoV-2 vaccination does not alter fertility potential, as reflected by the outcomes of elective oocytes cryopreservation procedure in young women. This is true even in a relatively long-time interval of 9 to 13 months from vaccination.