European regulators are investigating multiple reports about menstrual disorders after women have taken the mRNA COVID shots. According to Reuters, the safety committee of the European Medicines Agency said today that it is reviewing reports about heavy menstrual bleeding in women who had taken the COVID shots from Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech.
EU investigates menstrual disorders with mRNA COVID shots
The European Union regulators also said other women are no longer menstruating after receiving the vaccines. Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are based on the newer messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Since no other widely used vaccines use mRNA technology, it’s unclear whether there will be any long-term effects from taking such shots.
The European Medicines Agency added that it’s unclear whether there is a link between the menstrual disorders and the mRNA COVID shots the women had taken. The regulator explained that menstrual disorders can result from a variety of underlying medical problems and some non-medical causes like stress and fatigue.
The EMA also pointed out that some cases of such disorders were also reported after some women recovered from being infected with COVID-19.
Studies raise questions
The National Institutes of Health found in a recent study that being vaccinated against COVID had been linked with a minor change in the length of women’s menstrual cycles, although that change was generally temporary. The study was based on almost 4,000 users of an app some women use to track their menstrual cycles on their smartphones.
However, the EMA said in December that it hadn’t been able to link COVID shots with changes in menstrual cycles. That statement came following a study conducted in Norway that suggested some women started having heavier bleeding during their periods after receiving the COVID shots.
The EMA’s safety committee decided to seek an evaluation of all the data that’s available on potential menstrual disorders and mRNA COVID shots after reviewing all the evidence. The agency also said it found no evidence suggesting that the COVID shots have any impact on fertility.
Michelle Jones