INDIANAPOLIS — As of Tuesday, 36% of Hoosiers 16 and over are now fully vaccinated. But, as the rate of vaccinations across the country slows, doctors are urging everyone to separate fact from fiction when spreading information.
WRTV is dispelling the myth of “vaccine shedding” with the COVID-19 vaccine. There have been claims that vaccinated people can cause health issues in others, including pregnant women.
Dr. Jon Hathaway, an OBGYN at IU Health, said the coronavirus vaccine can not be shed and it is not infectious. There is not a full virus, even dead, in the vaccine to cause illness.
He did explain, though, why many women may have had irregularities lately with their periods and fertility.
“I think what most people are seeing is the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic and everybody is stressed,” Hathaway explained. “And so that increase stress causes increased miscarriages, causes increased menstrual cycle irregularities, causes increased infertility, which we are seeing with the birth rate in the United States last year plummeted because of the pandemic.
"And so all of those things are contributing to what we are seeing nationally, none of which are related to the vaccine which will help improve all of those things once we are not having daily death tolls and things like that.”
Hathaway also explained that there is risk to getting the vaccine, like getting a fever or feeling sick for a day, you are protecting yourself from getting COVID-19, which would be worse.
Dr. Hathaway recommends for Hoosiers concerned about the vaccine check out the websites of the CDC and Mayo Clinic.
