March 19, 2024

Commissioning parents panicking over surrogate mothers’ vaccinations

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the surrogacy industry

The intersection of the Covid-19 pandemic and surrogacy has not been a happy one. After international border lockdowns, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of couples found that they were separated from babies gestating in women in countries like Ukraine.

The rollout of vaccines is proving to be another stumbling block. A fascinating feature in Vice says that many commissioning parents do not want their surrogate to be vaccinated before or during the pregnancy. “Surrogacy agencies have been fielding so many requests for unvaccinated women that several have started specifically matching vaccine-averse prospective parents with surrogates who are willing to stay unvaccinated,” Vice says.

“The intended mother was going so far as to ask me if the surrogate actually got the vaccine, could she then turn around and request a termination of the pregnancy,” one surrogacy manager said. “It just really exemplified, for me, that severe level of anxiety that some people have.”

“I’m not an anti-vaxxer or a pro,” said one prospective father. But he still has reservations. “I think it’s too new of a vaccine. Even if studies are coming out right now, it would be physically impossible for them to have any long-term data that could be valid, in my opinion.”

And many of the surrogate mothers themselves are opposed to getting a vaccine. At a California agency, Surrogate First, about 35% of surrogates have declared that they will refuse. Another 10 to 15% say that they would get vaccinated before, but not during, their pregnancy.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

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