Earlier studies suggest a correlation between COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual changes. A new study says otherwise.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been rife with rumors and misinformation, some of it is intentional. The World Health Organization (WHO) went so far as to say there were two pandemics, COVID-19 and medical misinformation. Yet another rumor has been going around: the COVID-19 vaccines cause changes in women’s menstrual cycles.
COVID-19 Vaccines Not Linked to Menstrual Changes
A study in the U.K. of 1,273 women found no correlation. Earlier studies did suggest a link was possible and should be investigated, but this new study supports the idea of no association.
“We were unable to detect strong signals to support the idea that the vaccines affect timing or flow of menstrual cycles,” said Dr. Victoria Male, from Imperial College London. She added that more extensive studies or studies in other countries might find links. “It’s important to note that most people who report such a change following vaccination find that their period returns to normal the following cycle.”
OK to Get Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines at Same Time
Another study also found that it was safe to give COVID-19 vaccines and flu vaccines to people simultaneously. This study was published in The Lancet. The researchers assigned 697 adults to receive their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine with one of three flu vaccines for the 2020
–2021 flu season (FluAd, Flucelvax or Flublok) or a placebo. The antibody responses weren’t adversely affected and most reactions were mild or moderate.
Lung Cancer Patients Benefit from mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines
In good news, a study found that lung cancer patients who receive treatments that suppress their immune system still benefit from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. This small study was conducted on 306 lung cancer patients in France, 70% of whom had received immunosuppressive therapies. Patients who had COVID-19 antibodies from a previous infection were give one shot, but most received both. Approximately 10% of the patients didn’t develop antibodies in response to the first two doses and were given a third booster shot, which induced antibodies in all but three people who had blood diseases that impair vaccine efficacy.
In the study, which lasted for seven months, only eight patients, or 2.6%, developed mild cases of COVID-19. The researchers say the trial was small and non-randomized, so more research is needed to confirm it.
People on SSRI Antidepressants Less Likely to Die of COVID-19
A study out of the University of California – San Francisco found that people taking a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), especially fluoxetine, were significantly less likely to die of COVID-19 than people in a matched control group. The data was analyzed from health records of 87 centers across the U.S. The data was from almost 500,000 patients, including 83,584 adults diagnosed with COVID-19 between January and September 2020. Of those patients, 3,401 were prescribed SSRIs.
“We can’t tell if the drugs are causing these effects, but the statistical analysis is showing significant association,” said Marina Sirota, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and a member of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute (BCHSI) at UCSF. “There’s power in the numbers.”
The research found that patients taking fluoxetine (sold under the brand name Prozac and Sarafem) were 28% less likely to die of COVID-19, and patients taking either flueoxetine or fluvoxamine (brand names Luvox, Faverin, Fluvoxin) were 26% less likely to die. Out of the entire group, patients taking any SSRI were 8% less likely to die of COVID-19 than the matched patient control group. Other common brands of SSRIs include Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro (escitalopram), Paxil (paroxetine) and Zoloft (sertraline).
