No Link Between Covid-19 Vaccines And Menstrual Changes, UK Study Says

According to the report, there wasn’t any strong signal to suggest that the menstrual cycle or flow changed after being administered a Covid vaccine jab.

Representational image of a Covid-19 vaccine

New Delhi: There is no connection between changes in menstrual cycles of women and Covid-19 vaccine shots, a new study has said.

Several women reported noticing changes in their menstrual cycles after being vaccinated against the Covid virus. However, the study conducted on 1,273 women across the United Kingdom who kept a tab on the vaccination dates and their menstrual cycles found no correlation between the two, said the report posted on MedRxiv on Monday ahead of peer review.

The report noted that most people who report any menstrual changes after vaccination find that their period returns to normal in the next cycle. It also said there is no proof that Covid-19 vaccination adversely affects female fertility.

According to the report, there wasn’t any strong signal to suggest that the menstrual cycle or flow changed after being administered a Covid vaccine jab. “It is important to note that most people who report such a change following vaccination find that their period returns to normal the following cycle,” said Victoria Male from Imperial College, London. 

However, studies on a broader perspective, or from other countries, might be able to find a link between the two, the report said.

Another report published in The Lancet shows that it is safe to administer Covid-19 and flu vaccines to a patient at the same time, and doing so, it might boost the vaccination rates. 

As part of the study, 697 adult volunteers were given a shot of their second dose of either the mRNA vaccine of the Pfizer or BioNTech, or the viral-vector vaccine of AstraZeneca or Oxford, along with the three influenza vaccines (FluAd or Flucelvax from Seqirus UK or Sanofi’s Flublok) or a placebo. 

Most of the reactions to the shots were found to be mild or moderate, and the antibody responses on being administered the shots were not adversely affected, showed the study.

Giving both the vaccine shots at the same time to a patient would help in reducing the burden on healthcare personnel and allow protection from Covid-19 and influenza virus at the same time, the report said.