Over 12 billion people have safely taken the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

First the facts! There have been more than 12.2 billion doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination given across 184 countries. That’s roughly 10.6 million doses a day. US citizens have been given almost 600 million doses so far, which is a daily average rate of 96,733 dosages.

In spite of the enormous number of safe vaccinations given, there are still over 120 million Americans who have not gotten a single dose. A few can’t take the vaccine. Others are vaccine-hesitant. Some are simply anti-vaccine.

One of the reasons people give for not getting vaccinated is a fear the vaccine is not safe. In fact, after literally billions of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations being given, the vaccination have proven to be extremely safe and effective. Overall, there have been very few serious side effects. Overwhelmingly, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 is greater than the risk of the vaccination.

In this article I want to address one concern in particular that people worry about–does the vaccine affect periods, cause a menopause symptom of postmenopausal bleeding or affect fertility.

A Large Study Analyzed Women’s Periods After Taking a Vaccination

A recent study in Science Advances addressed this very question. The study included regularly menstruating women, transgender men, people on long-acting contraceptives, and post-menopausal women.

According to the study, nearly half of the regularly menstruating (42 percent) women reported heavier bleeding following a vaccination. In addition, 39 percent of transgender men, 71 percent of women on long-acting contraceptive and 66 percent of postmenopausal women, groups that typically do not bleed, experienced unusual bleeding.

The study, conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, evaluated over 39,000 women between the ages of 18-80 about their menstrual cycles. It included the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson vaccines or another that had been approved outside the United States.

Four reasons why I wanted to share this study with you:

1. Some doctors may not be aware of these findings and dismiss your own observations as not related to the vaccine.
2. You or your healthcare provider may be quite worried that something bad is going on–and it could be. It is still important to realize that just because you had a vaccination doesn’t mean your heavy or unusual bleeding was due to the vaccinations and not something else. Forty-four percent of women reported no change in their periods after receiving a vaccination and 14 percent reported lighter periods.
3. Just because it happens doesn’t mean it is a problem. A sore arm after a vaccination isn’t a reason not to take a vaccination. it’s just your body’s immune system reacting to the vaccination, which it is supposed to do. Similarly, your body’s immune response can affect the uterine lining and lead to temporary abnormal bleeding or a 1-2 day increased cycle length. Other past vaccines (the typhoid vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine and the Human Papillomavirus) have all caused some unusual bleeding in women.
4. Other studies have clearly shown that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine does not cause problems with fertility. That is a total myth.

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