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| People are seated after receiving COVID-19 vaccine shots to monitor for any adverse effects at a vaccination center in Mapo District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A growing number of women in Korea are complaining about menstrual problems as well as metrorrhagia, or intermenstrual uterine bleeding, after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
Health authorities pledged to step up monitoring to determine if there is a causal relationship between the health problems and the vaccines.
A woman posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, Tuesday, calling on authorities to include menstruation-related problems as possible side effects of coronavirus vaccines so they can be eligible for government support.
"There are many cases of women experiencing irregular menstrual bleeding after getting coronavirus vaccine shots. But when they visit hospitals, they are only prescribed with contraceptive pills or advised to take Tylenol, and are unable to report this as an adverse reaction to the vaccine," the petitioner wrote.
"If the symptoms which many women are experiencing are ignored, it means the government and the medical community are not paying attention to the pain being suffered by half of humanity."
There have been a number of online posts here made by women experiencing symptoms such as metrorrhagia and polymenorrhea, or shortened menstrual cycles, following COVID-19 vaccinations.
Relevant cases have also been reported overseas, including a woman who started menstruating again after menopause after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Health authorities pledged to investigate if there is any relationship between vaccination and menstrual problems.
"There are no official reports on the link between them either domestically or abroad, but we are collecting data," Cho Eun-hee, an official from the COVID-19 Vaccination Damage Investigation Team, said Wednesday.
"We'll make an announcement as soon as possible if any connection is found."
Cho said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not receive any reports on menstruation irregularities during clinical trials of the Pfizer and Janssen vaccines, and health authorities in Europe, including the United Kingdom and Germany, also have not suggested any links between COVID-19 vaccines and metrorrhagia, menorrhagia, or menstrual bleeding lasting more than a week, and postmenopausal bleeding.
"The European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported cases of menstrual disorders, but said it would monitor various physical changes in women and other signs of menstruation because there may be other reasons for the symptoms such as stress," Cho said.
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