COVID-19 Vaccine and the Menstrual Cycle

Post-COVID-19 vaccination changes to the menstrual cycle have been reported, particularly through social media, but little evidence exists.1,2 Fewer than 200 individuals have self-reported menstrual disturbances through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The authors of this retrospective analysis used prospectively collected menstrual cycle data from the FDA-cleared digital fertility awareness application “Natural Cycles” to assess associations between changes in the menstrual cycle or menses length and the COVID-19 vaccine. When stressors occur during the first half of the menstrual cycle (the follicular phase, when a dominant follicle is recruited and matures), cycle length can change.3 The immune response generated by mRNA vaccines could function as a stressor and temporarily affect the H-P-O axis, depending on the timing of vaccination. Because of the 21-day dosing schedule for the Pfizer mRNA vaccine and 28-day dosing schedule for the Moderna mRNA vaccine, receiving two doses in a single cycle necessitates that the first dose occurs during the early follicular phase for a normal cycling individual.

Unnatural Cycles: Anthropogenic Disruption to Health and Planetary Functions

Natural cycles underpin the very stuff of life. In this commentary we consider unnatural cycles: that is, anthropogenic activities which have a circularity, but whose nature is to have a detrimental effect on human health, exacerbating existing problems. Natural cycles have feedback loops, some of which have recently come to light, with an understanding that everything is connected in some way. In health, feedback loops are imperative in homeostatic mechanisms. However, in the unnatural cycle the feedback loops serve to reinforce (and in some cases amplify) negative problems. We offer a commentary on an unnatural cycle moving from air quality to lung function and back to air quality;we call this the lung disease unnatural cycle. We suggest where links occur, and where wider consideration of interactions between various disciplines can lead to breaking this unnatural (or vicious) cycle, changing it to a healthy cycle where individual health can be improved, along with better global scale outcomes. We suggest that many activities within this unnatural cycle occur within silos. However, the improved cycle incorporates joint activities at geological, health, and financial levels, to the mutual benefit of all, breaking the unnatural cycle and improving health, life, and financial costs.