The Short-Term Postponement of Fertility Related to Covid-19 Vaccination: Its Contribution to Czech Fertility Decline between 2021 and 2022

Jitka Slabá , Charles University
Jirina Kocourková, Charles University
Anna Štastná, Charles University, Prague
Dagmar Dzúrová, Charles University in Prague

As with Northern European countries, Czechia experienced unexpected fertility developments during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fertility in Czechia increased between 2020 and 2021 from 1.76 children per woman to 1.83. However, between 2021 and 2022, fertility fell significantly to just 1.62 children per woman. The main change that occurred between 2020 and 2021, which predominantly affected fertility one year later, comprised vaccination against Covid-19. Based on the principle of indirect standardisation, we calculated the expected number of children for cases in which women who were vaccinated in a specific month decided against becoming pregnant in that month; hence, they postponed their fertility intentions by one month. The results of the analysis showed that considering vaccination as a reason to avoid becoming pregnant in the same month as vaccination is able to largely explain the fertility decline between 2021 and 2022 in Czechia.

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 Presented in Session 24. Fertility and Health