NOVA: The pandemic disrupted tens of thousands of IVF cycles
Physicians and others debate what happens now for fertility patients?
In vitro fertilization is a costly, precisely timed process that takes two to three months per cycle. COVID-19 shut down fertility clinics and halted these cycles. At the start of the pandemic, hospitals were overwhelmed with really sick patients so ICU beds were in short supply and medical workers had a shortage of personal protective equipment. That led to a recommended national shutdown of clinics from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Michael Thomas, MD, professor and chair of the UC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology told NOVA that every fertility center in Cincinnati was shut down for extended periods, some as long as 12 weeks. The ongoing pandemic is forcing the nation to really think hard about how IVF clinics a viewed and their value in addressing fundamental part of one’s well-being.
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