{"id":2993,"date":"2021-09-08T14:22:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T14:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2993"},"modified":"2021-09-08T14:22:40","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T14:22:40","slug":"nih-orders-1-67m-study-on-how-covid-19-vaccine-impacts-menstrual-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2993","title":{"rendered":"NIH orders $1.67M study on how COVID-19 vaccine impacts menstrual cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authors: By\u00a0Hannah Sparks<\/a> September 7, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Institutes of Health has announced a $1.67 million study to investigate reports that suggest the COVID-19 vaccine<\/a> may come with an unexpected impact on reproductive health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a little over six months since the three COVID-19 vaccines in the US \u2014 Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson<\/a> \u2014 became widely available to all adults. But even in the early days of vaccine rollout, some women were noticing irregular periods following their shots, as reported first by the Lily<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shana Clauson, 45, spoke to the Washington Post\u2019s women\u2019s news site at the time, and\u00a0again this week<\/a>, about her experience after getting the jab \u2014 revealing that her period arrived earlier and heavier than what she considers normal. She was one of many who gathered on social media to share what they were seeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs this not being discussed, or is it even being looked at or researched because it\u2019s a \u2018woman\u2019s issue?\u2019 \u201d Clauson speculated to the Lily last spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women, those under 40 more likely to have side effects to COVID vaccine, expert says<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It would appear that the NIH heard Clauson and others\u2019 reports, as they announced on Aug. 30<\/a> that they intended to embark on just such research \u2014 aiming to incorporate up to half a million participants, including teens and transgender and nonbinary people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at Boston University, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, Michigan State University and Oregon Health and Science University have been enlisted to embark on the study, commissioned by the NIH\u2019s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office of Research on Women\u2019s Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approximately yearlong study will follow initially unvaccinated participants to observe changes that occur following each dose. More specifically, some groups will exclude participants on birth control or gender-affirming hormones, which may have their own impact on periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to provide menstruating people with information, mainly as to what to expect, because I think that was the biggest issue: Nobody expected it to affect the menstrual system, because the information wasn\u2019t being collected in the early vaccine studies,\u201d said NICHD director Diana Bianchi in a statement to the Lily \u2014 reportedly crediting their early coverage for helping to make the NIH aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We were worried this was contributing to vaccine hesitancy in reproductive-age women.\u2019<\/p>NICHD director Diana Bianchi<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The NIH suggests<\/a> that changes to the menstrual cycle could arise out of several of life\u2019s circumstances during a pandemic \u2014 the stress of lifestyle changes or possibly contending with illness. Moreover, the immune and reproductive systems are intrinsically linked, and the notion that the immune-boosting vaccine may disrupt the typical menstrual cycle is plausible, as demonstrated by previous<\/a> studies<\/a> concerning vaccine uptake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting the vaccine does not cause infertility<\/a> and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the shot<\/a> even for pregnant women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As changes to the menstrual cycle are \u201creally not a life and death issue,\u201d explained Bianchi, the Food and Drug Administration \u2014 fast-tracking their work<\/a> \u2014 prioritized only the most critical risks associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NIH, too, pulled together the initiative at breakneck speed. Funding for such a study would typically take years to see approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were worried this was contributing to vaccine hesitancy in reproductive-age women,\u201d said Bianchi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authors: By\u00a0Hannah Sparks September 7, 2021 The National Institutes of Health has announced a $1.67 million study to investigate reports that suggest the COVID-19 vaccine may come with an unexpected impact on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[978,761,310,375,938,607],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adverse-event-reporting","category-concerns","category-menstruation","category-news-of-the-day","category-safety","category-vaccine-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}