If your 18year-old DD has had the Pfizer vaccine, has she had side effects?

[LilyPond2]

Before anyone else says it, yes I know that "anecdata" is not the same as a peer reviewed study, but personally I would still be interested in hearing people's experiences (particularly as it apparently didn't occur to anyone doing the original trials to properly research impact on menstrual cycles ).

So I am interested in hearing about actual experiences of any female teenagers who have had the Pfizer vaccine. (If you think experience may have been influenced by an existing medical condition, would be helpful if you would say so.)

My 19-year old felt rough for a day or two but that was it

Dd 17 had Pfizer in March and may (CV) and had no side effects at all not even a sore arm.

@LilyPond2

Before anyone else says it, yes I know that "anecdata" is not the same as a peer reviewed study, but personally I would still be interested in hearing people's experiences (particularly as it apparently didn't occur to anyone doing the original trials to properly research impact on menstrual cycles ).

So I am interested in hearing about actual experiences of any female teenagers who have had the Pfizer vaccine. (If you think experience may have been influenced by an existing medical condition, would be helpful if you would say so.)

Could you be any ruder about the people who worked so hard on the vaccine?!?! There is an absolute difference between not seeing something in a clinical trial on a limited amount of people vs not researching properly!

Dd17 - first dose- sore arm. Second dose- nothing.

Yes 20 Yr old healthy dd getting breathless randomly

I’m in a country that is vaccinating over 12s, DD has not yet had the vaccine but a lot of her friends have (15/16yo). Apart from a couple who experienced extreme tiredness for a few days after the 2nd jab in particular, most had no immediate side effects. However, for the girls it appears that many experienced changes to the menstrual cycle. Not that many so far (not all have had the second jab yet) but I will be keeping an eye on it as this is influencing my decision to delay for DD. Also she is still growing and the vaccine is relatively new, so I prefer to wait.

And to the person who got offended about the OP pointing out the lack of research on menstrual cycles, when trialling drugs and vaccines most are based on a male body, despite the fact that women have different biology. When it comes to problems specific to women many are overlooked or not specifically researched.

DD18 had a slightly sore arm for a few hours, but no other side effects

Dd18, sore arm, no other side effects.

My daughter had it and no effects other than sore arm.

Sore arm. Too soon to say about menstrual effects.

Anecdotally you’re more likely to get side effects with the first dose of AZ but the second dose of Pfizer.

My 19 year old DD had hers just over two weeks ago. Absolutely no side effects, not even feeling a bit tired.

16 year old Dd = sore arm for 48hrs and a bit of a headache for a day.
Given that many CV 16-18 year old have been the guinea pigs for this and have had it, I presume any horrendous effects on the young would have had some headlines by now.

particularly as it apparently didn't occur to anyone doing the original trials to properly research impact on menstrual cycles

@LilyPond2

you're exposing your lack of knowledge here

The pfizer clinical trials evaluated all side effects of vaccination and menstrual-related symptoms did not occur at a higher rate than in the placebo group. In any vaccine or drug trial you will expect to see rarer effects when it is rolled out to billions of people - and it hasn't yet been confirmed that the pfizer vaccine itself causes changes to the menstrual cycle.

This was a huge vaccine trial designed by experts and it wasn't that it "apparently didn't occur to anyone" to evaluate specific types of side effect.

To answer your question, I know three 18 years who have had the pfizer jab, two had a very sore arm, one had no side effects.

Ds1 18 : sore arm

And to the person who got offended about the OP pointing out the lack of research on menstrual cycles, when trialling drugs and vaccines most are based on a male body, despite the fact that women have different biology. When it comes to problems specific to women many are overlooked or not specifically researched.

@Melassa not the PP

But yes while this is generally true about drug development, it's not the case specifically for the pfizer vaccine, where there was a good representation of women in trials

Just realised this is specifically about menses 😬
Sorry!

@ollyollyoxenfree You appear to have looked into this. What questions were trial participants asked about their menstrual cycles? My understanding was that the trial didn't actually ask participants specific questions about their menstrual cycle. Clearly, what questions were asked would be crucial to getting accurate information, eg if you just asked people about feeling "unwell" or experiencing "symptoms" trial participants might not necessarily think of a missed or late period as being within scope of the question. I listened to an interview with two US researchers who had attempted to do some research on the issue themselves and appeared frustrated that pertinent questions had not been asked at the point when the blind trials were being carried out. However, if you know better, I am genuinely interested to know what questions trial participants were asked to ensure that any impact on menstrual cycle was picked up.

@Mrs08 I am interested in hearing about people's experiences generally.

It didn’t seem to affect my DD’s period.

19y Dd had it 3 weeks ago. No side effects besides. a slightly achy arm for a day or two.

Number of her friends (male and female) have had it recently and none have had any symptoms.

@ollyollyoxenfree

I'm also interested to know about the data from the Pfizer clinical trials you mention regarding the effect of the vaccine on menstrual cycles. Although women were well represented in the trials, the data is difficult (for me) to find.

There are experts who have implied it was not researched, e.g.:
"There's a long history of us not doing a great job at studying women in research studies because of some of this complexity," said UCSF OBGYN, Dr. Heather Huddleston, who specializes in reproductive endocrinology.
Dr. Huddleston wishes the vaccine makers had collected data about menstrual cycles during the randomized trials.From this article.

Also, Dr. Viki Male who is going to undertake research on the impact of covid-19 jabs on menstruation stating on Twitter that 'we don't know' if the vaccine has an effect on periods, hence the research is necessary.

19yo dd had a day or so of feeling tired, achy and sore arm with first dose

My 16 and 17 year olds have both been double vaccinated. The 17 year old had a dead arm for 24 hours after the first one. Other than that no side effects at all.

Hi OP I’m 23 have had friends a few years younger have theirs and out of everyone mine were the worst symptoms. I had a fever the next day, nearly passed out after getting out of the bath. I took paracetamol and was absolutely fine once I kept on top of it. I would advise her to keep her water intake up to the max and to just take paracetamol once she has had her jab. According to my fiancé’s mum everyone she knows that didn’t just take paracetamol after the Pfizer had a fever, it’s only anecdotal but tbh it’s only for a day.

I also want to point out that I have had a diagnosis of ME/CFS in the past and generally take to any cold very harshly so that might have made things more complicated for me.

The vaccine wasn’t specifically studied for effects on periods. Amused at the offended poster above.

They have no idea of the effects of any of the vaccines on longer term menstrual issues. I have a few friends still having issues after the AZ which have been summarily dismisses nt GPs.