Dr MALE has also popped up again from that article.
"Because
we had no data and people weren’t paying attention to it, individuals who started reporting it just got blown off. People feel like they were gaslighted around coming in and having these concerns," said Alison Edelman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University.
In an editorial published Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Victoria Male called on future trials to ask people about period changes and to take respondents seriously if they report such side effects.
"We shouldn't underestimate how important it is to do that —
to listen to people and address their concerns, particularly around public health interventions like vaccines," said Male, a senior lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London.
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"When you see something like this come up, then you’re like, 'Wait a second, '" Edelman said.
Isn't her answer very reassuring? The boffins who can invent vaccines in less than 12 months didn't stop to think about this small tiny thing.
Male said the oversight could be due, in part, to the fact that most vaccines are administered in childhood, so menstruation isn't top of mind in trials. But the issue is reflective of a larger inequity in clinical research, she added.
"It wasn’t until the early '90s that there was a requirement to always include female participants in your research," she said. "Until that requirement existed, a lot of people would deliberately do everything on male participants because, in some ways, it’s easier. The ramifications of that continue to echo."