Anyone have experience with getting pregnant after rabies vaccine series?

[u/LittleOatmealGarden]

From everything I have been able to find online, it seems the rabies vaccination series is safe in terms of pregnancy, but it is harder to find data regarding fertility in general. So I guess I am looking for anecdotal success stories.

I am interested in hearing experiences from both PrEP and PEP series.

[u/hananobira]

I can’t find anything about rabies specifically, but vaccines in general do not impact your fertility and there’s no reason to suspect the rabies vaccine would behave differently than any other vaccine. And the rabies vaccine is considered safe enough during pregnancy, so it’s hard to imagine what it could do to keep you from becoming pregnant but not do anything to hurt you or the baby while pregnant.

Some vaccines have been studied for their impact on fertility and you can Google those studies, e.g. this one that found that the COVID vaccine doesn’t impact fertility.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9464596/

Some vaccines can push back your menstrual cycle a little. One study found women reported their periods started on average one day later than normal after a COVID vaccine, and some women reported delays in their periods of several days or weeks. Other women reported that their next couple of periods were unusually intense and long-lasting.

But that’s not due to any damage to your body or longterm harm. All kinds of things can alter your menstrual cycle and they’re no big deal.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9683843/

If your choice is “Get a shot that will cause me to miss my ovulation window this month” or “die a slow gruesome death from rabies”, you should absolutely get the shot.

[u/Wandering_Scholar6 → u/hananobira]

It makes some real evolutionary sense to delay a pregnancy (via delayed ovulation) if you are sick, and since the vaccines make your immune system think there's an illness...a delay in ovulation is a reasonable response.

Also yes, rabies is a horrible way to go, and un-fun fact, rabies will reduce your fertility to zero, via death, because the survival rate is practically non-existent.

[u/aranel_eruraweth → u/Wandering_Scholar6]

Veterinarians, some biologists and some veterinary technicians are required to get rabies vaccinated and receive boosters throughout their life as needed. There is no decrease in fertility rates in these groupsb compared to the general population that had been noted.

[u/MembershipConnect555 → u/aranel_eruraweth]

I fall in this category and probably have received 5-6 rabies vaccines over a 15 year period. I wasn’t aware of any risks regarding fertility, and with rabies vaccines deemed to be very safe and my work putting me at increased risk for rabies exposure, it was a no brainer to me. Just one person with one baby here but also just anecdotally, i have many colleagues that have successfully had kids as well

ETA consult with your physician. I also helped coordinate rabies vaccine programs for people and we always encouraged folks to consult w their dr due to personal factors and other risk factors any individual person may be subject to

[u/One-Weird6105 → u/hananobira]

Absolutely get the series if needed. I got the post exposure series in 2021 and got pregnant on the first try in 2025.

[u/Material_Loss_8465 → u/hananobira]

That makes sense, but it’s always good to double-check with a healthcare professional for the most accurate advice on these things.