Its gotta be doing something...
COVID-19 vaccination is estimated to have saved millions of lives globally in its first year of rollout. However, reports of irregular menstruation after vaccination have been a major source of vaccine hesitancy among young women.
At the time, such reports were often dismissed as natural cycle variation. But new data suggests that, while the effects are only temporary, vaccination can indeed have a short-term impact on the cycles of some people who menstruate.
Menstrual cycle lengths vary naturally from month to month. Therefore, it is hard to determine whether unusual menstrual patterns are due to internal or external factors. However, several studies have found consistent associations between COVID-19 vaccination and small, temporary changes in menstruation.
"Three large studies using data from thousands of people on menstrual cycle tracking apps have found that COVID vaccination is associated with a delay to the next period," Victoria Male, a Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Immunology at Imperial College London, told Newsweek.
In an article published by the journal Science, Male summarized the findings of these studies and the possible mechanisms underlying their results.
COVID-19 vaccination is estimated to have saved millions of lives globally in its first year of rollout. However, reports of irregular menstruation after vaccination have been a major source of vaccine hesitancy among young women.
At the time, such reports were often dismissed as natural cycle variation. But new data suggests that, while the effects are only temporary, vaccination can indeed have a short-term impact on the cycles of some people who menstruate.
Menstrual cycle lengths vary naturally from month to month. Therefore, it is hard to determine whether unusual menstrual patterns are due to internal or external factors. However, several studies have found consistent associations between COVID-19 vaccination and small, temporary changes in menstruation.
"Three large studies using data from thousands of people on menstrual cycle tracking apps have found that COVID vaccination is associated with a delay to the next period," Victoria Male, a Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Immunology at Imperial College London, told Newsweek.
In an article published by the journal Science, Male summarized the findings of these studies and the possible mechanisms underlying their results.
Covid vaccines did change women's periods, huge studies show
The effects lasted just one or two months, and researchers saw no impact on fertility at all.
www.newsweek.com