Very recently, The New England Journal of Medicine acknowledged that thousands of women in the US have experienced a change in their menstrual cycles after receiving the Covid vaccine. Women around the world have reported these changes, ranging anywhere from the duration of their period to cramps to breakthrough bleeding. Thankfully for most women, these changes are temporary, and their menstruation returns back to normal after a few cycles.
The question every Indian woman wants to know -- will the Covid booster affect their period? The short answer is maybe, as the booster is just another shot of a vaccine that is now known to cause minor symptoms in some women. We stress on the 'some' here as it is often easy to hone in on media reports scare-mongering individuals with limited data or research when the vast majority of women who have had the vaccine have been fine within a cycle or so.
In a piece by the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s Ministry of Health reported that about 10% women experience irregular periods with a Covid booster. They will further examine whether the symptoms exist 21-30 days after taking the Pfizer booster vaccine. It’s important to note that most of the symptoms reported were extremely mild and did not arise after 3 days.
Dr Victoria Male stated in the BMJ editorial, “One important lesson is that the effects of medical interventions on menstruation should not be an afterthought in future research.”