DON'T MESS WITH MY FERTILITY

 

DON'T MESS WITH MY FERTILITY!

Hmmmmm......do periods change after COVID-19 vaccinations and do COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility? Is it safe to be vaccinated if I am pregnant? I am almost 58 and well past menopause, thank God. Many young women and pregnant women are fearful of being vaccinated against COVID-19. When I am faced with someone's fear the first thing I do is listen and try to imagine being in their reality. I go a bit deeper than that when someone is suffering. I immerse myself in their reality. So, if I was 27 years old and planning on having children at some point......give me a second. Let me sit with the memory of being a 27 year old with new born baby. I so loved that time of my life. Let me go back to being a 14 year old in high school. I have a clear memory of running down one of the stairwells at Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute. I loved high school. I felt this swell of hope and excitement....it felt like I had taken my first step towards independence and my own future. I had that same feeling while running down the steps, 5 months pregnant with my first child 12 years later in a house we had just purchased but couldn't really afford. Now I am immersed. If I was a woman in my teens or a woman of childbearing age, how would I feel about getting vaccinated? Let's talk through some of the false information out there. 1/ COVID vaccines change my periods which may lead to major health issues in reproductive stage of my life. Changes to periods and unexpected vaginal bleeding are not yet listed as a consequence of vaccination but family doctors, nurse practitioners and obstetricians/gynecologist's are hearing from patients who have experienced these events shortly after vaccination. More than 30 000 reports of these events had been made to the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) yellow card surveillance system for adverse drug reactions by September 2021, across all COVID-19 vaccines currently offered. Periods return to normal in most people with their next period but I have talked to a few who state it takes a few cycles to return to normal. The link between vaccination and changes in menstrual cycles is plausible and under scientific review. Here's an interesting fact, other vaccinations have been linked to a change in menstrual cycle; the HPV ( Human Papilloma Virus) vaccine or Gardasil in this country, has also been associated with a change in cycles. Millions of people have received this vaccine. It is part of the series of vaccines given to students in grade 7 and 8. The HPV vaccines prevent cervical cancer in people with a cervix and other serious cancers in all genders. These vaccines have saved lives. It is believed that the menstrual cycle can be affected by the stimulation of the immune system not just from vaccination but from many viral infections. Get this, in one study of menstruating women, one quarter of those infected with COVID-19 experienced significant changes in their periods. These changes in menstrual cycles are likely to be the result of the immune response to vaccination or viral infection rather than a specific component of a vaccine. 2/ Because the COVID vaccine has caused a change in my menstrual cycle, I may become infertile. If the vaccines cause infertility and changes in periods, than if I get pregnant, I am putting my baby at risk if I get vaccinated. What a huge leap that is. That line of thinking is even hard to follow. That's just totally messed up. I am particularly passionate ( I will use this word rather than less professional words) about this 'way out their' piece of mis-information. It has caused so many to avoid getting the COVID-19 vaccines. The result has been that many pregnant women and young adults have succumb to the virus, developing serious illness. Some have died. There are now hundreds of scientific trials that show these vaccines are safe in pregnancy. Here is one of them but I could site more if needed. This is from a coalition of groups under the National Institute of Health in the US: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8352848/ On the other hand, there is a large and growing body of evidence that shows how serious COVID- 19 infection in pregnancy. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/pregnant-people.html There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility. This is interesting; in clinical trials, unplanned pregnancies occurred at similar rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Fertile couples often have unplanned pregnancies. These trials suggest that fertility is not affected by COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2211 In Summary, COVID-19 vaccines may cause changes in menstrual cycles which revert to normal within a few months. Studies are ongoing in this area. Viral infection and other vaccines also cause these changes. There is no relationship between changes in menstrual cycles after COVID-19 vaccination and infertility. The Gardasil vaccine can briefly change your period. It has been given to millions of young people.... I am seeing a baby boom amongst this group now. No fertility issues here. COVID -19 vaccines are safe in pregnancy. COVID infection is not.

Take home message: Please get vaccinated. Vaccines are safe in women in the reproductive stage of their lives, before, during and after pregnancy. Signing off for the weekend. Here's a picture of me at the Tsepong HIV/AIDS clinic in Lesotho, Africa ( 2006) when periods and fertility were still a part of my life!! Anne-Marie Please share. We are assisting in the roll out of COVID vaccines in Lesotho. If you would like to be apart of this vitally important work towards making sure that vaccines are distributed in resource poor countries like Lesotho, you can donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-give/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/