COVID-19: Sperm shortage in Sweden as Potential Donors boycott hospitals during pandemic

Men are being urged to come forward after inseminations were halted in large parts of the healthcare system and waiting times were driven up sharply.

Those hoping to start a family will now have to wait about 30 months or longer, compared with six months last year, doctors told Reuters news agency. The donated sperms are used to help an individual or a couple conceive a baby.

Sperm can be injected into a woman’s reproductive organs (intrauterine insemination) or used to fertilize mature eggs in a lab (in vitro fertilization). The use of donated sperm is known as third-party reproduction as part of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

“We’re running out of sperm. We’ve never had so few donors as during the last year,” said Ann Thurin Kjellberg, head of the reproduction unit at Gothenburg’s University Hospital.

Sweden has taken a different direction to most countries during the pandemic, spurning lockdowns and instead choosing to keep businesses largely open with some restrictions.

The country has reported 13,720 coronavirus deaths, higher than its Nordic neighbours but still lower than many other European countries.

It is now facing another surge in cases, and in recent days it has had the highest number of daily coronavirus infections per person in Europe.