The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HOW COVID-19 VACCINES MAY AFFECT WOMEN DIFFERENTLY
News that seven women developed a rare blood clotting disorder after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has prompted new questions about whether vaccines affect women differently than men, and whether there are special considerations that women should take into account when getting vaccinated. We spoke with a few experts to learn what women should know.
We don’t know if blood clots affect women more
Federal health agencies last week recommended that practitioners pause administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a half-dozen women developed a rare blood clotting disorder about two weeks after vaccination. The recipients were between the ages of 18 and 48; one woman died and a second was hospitalized in critical condition.
On Wednesday, two more possible cases were added: one in a woman, and one in a man.
But it is not clear if the clotting was caused by the vaccines or whether women are necessarily more often affected.
Getting vaccinated can change the way your mammogram looks
Coronavirus vaccinations can cause enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit that will show up as white blobs on mammograms. This type of swelling is a normal reaction to the vaccine and will typically occur on the same side as the arm where the shot was given, said Dr. Geeta Swamy, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ COVID vaccine group. It usually only lasts a few weeks.
Because this type of swelling could be mistaken as a sign of cancer, the Society of Breast Imaging recommends trying to schedule your routine mammogram before your first COVID-19 vaccine dose or at least one month after your second.
Women are questioning whether the vaccine affects their menstrual cycle
Some women say they have observed changes in the flow or timing of their period after getting vaccinated.
But so far this is purely anecdotal. Kathryn Clancy, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, generated hundreds of responses on Twitter after saying that her period was heavier than usual after her first dose of the Moderna vaccine. She is now collaborating with
Katharine Lee, a postdoctoral research scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, to survey women on short-term vaccine side effects related to the menstrual cycle.
Periods can be affected by a multitude of factors, including stress, thyroid dysfunction, endometriosis and fibroids. If you have questions about your menstrual cycle, be sure to speak with your doctor.
Women appear to have more side effects after vaccination than men
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in February, examined the Pfizer-biontech and Moderna vaccines and found that 79% of the side effects reported to the agency came from women, even though only 61% of the vaccines had been administered to women.
It could be that women are more likely to report side effects than men, said Dr. Sabra L. Klein, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Or, she added, women might be experiencing side effects to a greater degree.“we’re not sure which it is,” she said.
If women are in fact having more side effects than men, there might be a biological explanation: Women and girls can produce up to twice as many antibodies after receiving flu shots and vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, and hepatitis A and B, probably because of a mix of factors, including reproductive hormones and genetic differences.