「ワクチンで不妊症に」 偽情報が拡散、集団免疫獲得の脅威に　米

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】新型コロナウイルスのワクチンをめぐり、不妊症を引き起こす恐れがあるとの偽情報がオンラインで拡散している。米国では接種をためらう人も出ており、専門家らはこうした恐怖をあおる主張は事実無根だと説いている。
（写真は米バージニア州フェアファックスで新型ウイルスワクチンの接種を受ける娘を見守る母親）
　フェイスブックで出回っている最もひどい偽情報の中には、ワクチンを接種してない女性が接種済みの男性との性交渉により不妊症になる、接種を受けた人の９７％が不妊症になる、さらにはワクチンが「一世代全体を不妊にする」といったものまである。
　米国ではワクチン接種のペースがすでに鈍化しており、こうした主張はジョー・バイデン政権が掲げる集団免疫獲得という目標の脅威となっている。
　今月発表された調査では、ワクチンを「絶対に」接種しないと回答した人の３分の２が不妊の影響を懸念していた。
　調査を行った専門家によると、１８～４９歳のワクチン未接種の人のうち女性は約５０％、男性は４７％が「新型コロナウイルスワクチンは将来的に生殖能力に悪影響を及ぼし得る」と答えた。

■医学界「証拠なし」

　ワクチンの臨床試験（治験）の初期に妊婦が含まれていなかったことが、デマ拡散につながった。また、最近の反ワクチン運動の盛り上がりに伴って接種を受ける人の数も減少している。
　マサチューセッツ大学アマースト校のデボン・グレイソン教授（ヘルスコミュニケーション学）は偽情報について、ほとんどは科学的に正確かどうか関係なく、これまでのワクチンをめぐって人々の恐怖心をあおるために言われてきたことが、新しいワクチンに対しても言われているだけだと指摘する。
　偽情報が女性をターゲットとしているのは「出産は私たちが非常に強く反応する事柄の一つであり、非常に個人的なことである」ためだと述べた。
　ボストン大学医学部のキャサリン・オコンネル・ホワイト准教授（産婦人科学）も、「多くの女性にとってワクチンをめぐる不妊への懸念は、女性であることの意味の核心を突くことだ」と述べた。
　米国産科婦人科学会、米生殖医学会、母体胎児医学会議は、共同声明で「ワクチンが生殖能力の喪失につながり得るとの証拠はない」と発表している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/05/17-15:58）

False claims that Covid-19 vaccines can cause infertility are discouraging Americans from receiving the shots and leaving health professionals to persuade patients that scare stories they have read online are unfounded.
Among the worst examples of such misinformation spread on Facebook are that immunized men can render unvaccinated women sterile through sex, that 97 percent of vaccine recipients will become infertile and that the jabs could be sterilizing an entire generation.
With vaccine uptake already slowing, the claims are a threat to the Biden administration's goal of achieving herd immunity in the United States.
Research published earlier this month showed about two-thirds of those who said they will definitely not get a vaccine were worried about the impact on their fertility.
And about half of unvaccinated people say they are concerned the Covid-19 vaccine may negatively impact their fertility in the future, Ashley Kirzinger, associate director of public opinion and survey research at Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy nonprofit that conducted the study, told AFP.
Some 50 percent of women and 47 percent of men aged 18 to 49 who had not yet been vaccinated say they have such fears.
- 'No evidence' -
The initial exclusion of pregnant women from Covid-19 vaccine trials created space for falsehoods, and the latest effort by anti-vaccine groups coincides with fewer people stepping forward for inoculations.
They are largely just recycling things that scare people about previous vaccines onto these new vaccines, whether or not it makes scientific sense, said Devon Greyson, health communications professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The messages are targeting women because fertility is just one of those things that we react so strongly to, and it's so personal, Greyson added. So if you're looking for a bogeyman, 'It will make you infertile' is a really good one.
Katharine O'Connell White, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine, agreed, saying that concerns about fertility with the vaccines strike at the heart of what it means to be a woman, for a lot of women.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said in a joint statement that there is no evidence that the vaccine can lead to loss of fertility.
Despite more than half a million Americans dead from Covid-19, vaccine hesitancy persists and it has left physicians having to assure patients that their fears about not being able to have children are misplaced.
- 'Boring old truth' -
I tell my patients all the time, print out whatever you find that makes you nervous, makes you scared. And let's talk about it, White said.
But most vaccine skeptics do not believe their doctor or do not seek their advice.
Abinash Virk, an infectious diseases physician and co-chair of Mayo Clinic's Covid-19 vaccination effort, said people who are staunchly against receiving the vaccine either do not ask, or do not come in at all.
A history of women's health concerns being more likely to be dismissed by health care professionals compounds the problem.
The needs of women historically have not been included in research studies. Often it's because the person designing the research study is not a woman, White said.
With women often the default healthcare managers of their families and the decision makers on whether to vaccinate their children, debunking misinformation is especially important as the US has opened up Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to children 12 and older.
A large part of the population, including children, will need to be inoculated to achieve herd immunity, when the proportion of people with antibodies largely prevents the spread of the virus.
And vaccine falsehoods obstruct authoritative health guidance.
Misinformation is sticky, White added. It's much stickier than the boring old truth.