Since it’s been available, women have been reporting changes in their period after the COVID-19 vaccine. A new study has confirmed that at least one of these changes are normal.
Since the COVID-19 vaccination became widely available in 2021 and has been shared on social media, anecdotal evidence of changes in menstrual cycle has been mounting. People with periods report longer periods, missed periods and heavier periods. Some post-menopausal women even report a return to their periods. New York Times. But until now, there’s been a lack of large-scale clinical research examining what happens to your period after the COVID-19 vaccine.
A new study was published Thursday that confirms at most one post-vaccine period change. Published in the journal Obstetrics & GynecologyThe study found that people with periods experienced a slightly longer menstrual cycle after getting the COVID-19 shot. Periods were an average of one day late than normal. (The actual period length remained the same.
Importantly, the change isn’t harmful, according to health experts, and it isn’t permanent. The study showed that the normal menstrual cycle returned to normal after receiving the vaccine. This confirms the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine for fertility. There have been no side effects to the vaccine. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends the vaccine to all women who are pregnant or plan on becoming pregnant.
Nearly 4,000 women used the Natural Cycles fertility application to record changes in their menstrual cycles. About 60% of these women had received the COVID-19 vaccination. However, there is one problem with this data. As the Times points out, the set of women using the Natural Cycles app isn’t nationally representative—these users tend to be white, educated, thinner than the average American woman, and are not using hormonal contraception, making it difficult to draw generalizable conclusions.
Alison Edelman, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University and the lead author of the study, also noted that there’s lots of room for individual variation in the data. One example of the factors that influenced the findings was the two-day delay experienced by 380 women when their period began. She explained to The Times. A smaller group of vaccinated women—about 5%, per CNN—experienced cycles eight days longer than normal. (However it’s also worth noting that this number was the same among unvaccinated women in the study.) “Though the cycle length was less than one day different at the population level, for an individual, depending on their perspective and what they’re relying on menses for, that could be a big deal,” she said. “You might be expecting a pregnancy, you might be worrying about a pregnancy, you might be wearing white pants.”
The study also doesn’t address reports from post-menopausal women (who aren’t likely to be using the app). Experiencing spotting or bleeding post-menopause can be a cause for concern, whether you’ve received the vaccine or not, and should be evaluated by a doctor.
The study is a step in the direction of understanding how the COVID-19 vaccine—and vaccines in general—impact periods. “It validates that there is something real here,” Hugh Taylor, M.D., chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, told the Times. Adding, “I want to make sure we dissuade people from those untrue myths out there about fertility effects. A cycle or two where periods are thrown off may be annoying, but it’s not going to be harmful in a medical way.”
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Source: Glamour
