Is the tetanus vaccine given to make women infertile?

In an online video, Dr. Carrie Madej repeats an old false claim. She says public health agencies around the world put pregnancy hormones in tetanus vaccines to make low-income women unable to have children.

This rumor began with a tiny amount of real history. In the early 1990s, researchers in India tested an experimental birth control vaccine. It used hCG, a hormone needed during early pregnancy, along with a protein related to tetanus toxin. The goal was to prevent pregnancy for a short time. The vaccine did not cause permanent infertility, and it did not work well enough to be offered to the public.

Years later, the World Health Organization and UNICEF worked to protect women in Kenya from tetanus. Vaccinating women also protects newborn babies from a deadly form of the disease called neonatal tetanus.

Because old rumors were still spreading, some vaccine samples were tested for hCG. Early tests reported a very small amount of “hCG-like activity.” This led some people to claim that hCG had been secretly added to the vaccines to make women infertile.

However, the tests did not meet the quality standards normally required by health regulators. Even if the early results had been correct, the amount reported would have been far too small to affect fertility.

The vaccines were tested again using better methods. No hCG was found. Kenya later succeeded in eliminating neonatal tetanus as a major public health problem.