COVID Vaccine & Menstrual Cycle?

Hey babes! Today’s blog is a little different than my past blogs. This topic is something that caught my attention. In my blogs, I want to start writing about issues that are usually not discussed; that are important in society. For the past two years, the whole world has been dealing with this deadly virus, Coronavirus, known as COVID. This pandemic has changed our lives forever; it has affected us not only physically; but mentally and emotionally. First and foremost, I want to take this time to express my condolences to anyone that has experienced a loss of a loved one due to COVID; my thoughts and prayer go out to every one of you. Unfortunately, COVID is not going anywhere any time soon even after the release of the vaccines. In my opinion, the vaccines have helped a lot; the percentage of deaths due to COVID has lowered significantly. Like any other vaccine, these vaccines have their effects, which is the main topic of this blog. In a recent study, 45% to 50% of women have suffered alterations in their menstrual cycle after their COVID vaccine. As a woman, this caught my attention because we already go through so much in our menstrual cycle; but now due to COVID, many women might experience changes to their cycle. In this blog, I will be talking about the research I have done on my own about this topic; I will also share experiences from women that have gone through these changes themselves.

About 50% of women in the United States have experienced alterations in their period after getting the COVID vaccine dose. In the article, “Women said the COVID vaccine affected their periods. Now more than $1.6 million will go into researching the correlation” by Julianne McShane states, “Shana Clauson, a 45-year-old woman who got her COVID vaccine and a few days later, also got an earlier and heavier period than she was used to. A few weeks later, she told The Washington Post that she was frustrated with the lack of research on whether the vaccines impacted menstrual cycle” (McShane, September 2021). This article was written back in September 2021. People are just talking about this issue now. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this blog was to inform my readers and spread awareness on a topic that may affect us. According to the CDC website, about 210 million people have been fully-vaccinated in the United States; roughly 110 million are women (TABLE 1). Many women were experiencing their period earlier or later, having heavier bleedings or not having their period at all. Therefore, these alternations/changes should be added as a side-effect of the COVID vaccines. It is very frustrating that there is a lack of attention on women’s health, specifically; on the menstrual cycle. Many women had to go out of their way and create Facebook groups about this theory because no one was talking about this issue. It had to take an army of women to speak about this issue for them to study the correlation between COVID vaccines and a woman's menstrual cycle.

Through research, the National Institute of Health found that the changes in the menstrual cycle were indeed a side effect of the COVID vaccines. In the article, “Women’s Periods may be late after Coronavirus Vaccination, Study suggests” by Roni Rabin states, “Their periods themselves, which came almost a day later on average, were not prolonged and the effect was transient, with cycle lengths bouncing back to normal within one or two months.” (Rabin, January 2022). This quote is not only a relief but also a confirmation that this side effect is common and should be temporary. My period cycle is normal; I get it every 28 days. If I experienced any changes or alternations, I would have been concerned because that would be rare for me. Speaking on behalf of all women; this research was needed. Even if it is not a life-or-death situation, this topic is still important; a one- or two-day delay could have impacted any woman that was wishing for a pregnancy or not. One of my followers on Instagram messaged me about her experience. She told me after her second covid vaccine (Pfizer; she missed her period for the following month for the first time; then the following month, she got it and it has been normal since. Many women did not even link the possibility that the changes were due to the COVID Vaccine until more women started speaking about it. COVID has taken a toll on so many people; as time passes, we will be learning new information about Covid itself and the vaccines. It is our job as a society; to become well informed on topics like this one because even though; it may not affect us, we can still spread awareness and inform a friend, family member, coworker, etc.

I want to take the time to thank you for reading this blog. This blog was a little different than my other blogs. I also want to thank everybody that messaged me about their experiences and changes to their menstrual cycle due to the vaccine. I am not against the COVID vaccines; every vaccine has its side effects, but we all should have been aware of the possibilities of changes and alternation in our menstrual cycle before receiving the doses. I hope that the National Institute of Health continues researching this topic by investigating why this is happening. To any woman that has gone through this or is currently going through it, I hope this blog helped; you are not the only one going through this. The purpose of this blog was to spread awareness on this topic; changes or alternations in your menstrual cycle after receiving the two doses of the COVID vaccine are common. Contact your gynecologist; if these changes are drastic such as very painful and intolerable. This concludes my blog; thank you again for reading; I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it; stay tuned for more content <3

(Table One)

Love

LC ✨