There’s word going around that COVID-19 shots alter menstruation cycles. Repeated media reports say research indicates minor changes, but that it’s nothing for women to worry about.
But the concern about vaccines and menstruation won’t go away. The safety committee of the European Medicines Agency said Friday it is examining heavy menstrual bleeding and the absence of menstruation among women injected with Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 ahota, Reuters reported.
The EMA said it was not yet clear whether there was a causal link between the shots and menstrual alterations.
Concerns about COVID-19 shots affecting menstruation have been around for awhile. Media have downplayed it, in recent days citing a January article in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
That article said menstrual cycles increased by about a day for women receiving one shot, two days for those receiving two shots.
At least as far back as May of 2021, health officials, in effect, told women not to be concerned. Minnesota’s KARE-TV quoted one mother concerned about menstrual irregularity and fertility.
Not to worry, said Dr. Katie Toft, director of Premier OB/GYN in Minnesota. “There’s really nothing in the way the vaccine was designed that would make it possible to cause those problems,” she said.
Regarding the January Obstetrics & Geneology article, Dr. Hugh Taylor, chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at Yale School of Medicine, told The New York Times, “It validates there is something real here,” noting irregular cycles among his patients.
But the findings in the article were no big deal, Taylor said. “I want to make sure we dissuade people from those untrue myths out there about fertility effects,” Taylor said.
“A cycle or two where periods are thrown off may be annoying, but it’s not going to be harmful in a medical way.”
Contrary to Taylor’s statement, the article said essentially nothing about fertility. And the issue of menstrual irregularity won’t go away.
As commentator Candice Owen tweeted in response to news of the EU investigation, “Too many women already injured while they were gaslit by the mainstream media.”
Alleged misinformation regarding possible vaccine-related reproductive problems was a main concern of an NPR piece called “The Life Cycle of a COVID-19 Vaccine Lie.”
Presented by Geoff Brumfiel, it tied itself to science, using the phrase “despite a mountain of scientific evidence showing the vaccines are safe and effective,” then attempted to show how false information is manufactured, in this case about vaccination threats to fertility.
It said lies and misinformation develop over an issue where there is “a kernel of truth.” In this case, Brumfiel quoted the results of a survey that indicated vaccines could affect menstruation.
But he never mentioned what science cannot know: the effects of the rushed-to-market drugs on fertility in another one, two or 10 years.
And the credibility of the NPR piece is washed away in the correction added to the print version: “A previous version of this web story mischaracterized the survey of experiences with menstruation and the vaccine as only including women.
“In fact, the survey includes people who menstruate or have in the past.”
“People who menstruate.” Thanks, NPR. That tells us all we need to know
