The Latest Anti-Vax Myth: 'Vaccine Shedding'

When a Miami school said earlier this week that it wouldn't allow vaccinated teachers in its classrooms, its founder cited "vaccine shedding" as her main concern.

The trope is currently abuzz in anti-vaccine circles, said Nicole Baldwin, MD, a pediatrician who has been a target of attacks by the anti-vaxxer community.

"It's amazing, and sad, what people will believe," Baldwin told MedPage Today.

Essentially, they believe that people who've had the vaccine can somehow shed the spike protein, which in turn can cause menstrual cycle irregularities, miscarriages, and sterility in other women just by being in close proximity.

"This is a new low, from the delusional wing of the anti-vaxx cult," said Zubin Damania, MD, a.k.a. ZDoggMD, in a video he recently posted to bust vaccine shedding myths.

Damania said the misinformation originates from an earlier claim that syncytin, a protein involved in placental formation, bears some structural similarities to the spike protein, and therefore vaccination would interfere with women's reproductive systems. Many a fact check has shown that vaccines don't target the protein.

Once injected, the vaccines prompt cells to make the spike protein, but it's usually cleared in 24 to 48 hours, leaving little opportunity for "shedding," even if it could occur -- which it can't, Damania emphasized.

Another logical fallacy he pointed out: "Why, then, wouldn't natural spike protein do the same thing? Wouldn't you be more scared of natural coronavirus infection? Oh, but it's 'natural.'"

Damania noted that there are legitimate questions and research about whether the coronavirus itself and vaccines have an impact on women's menstrual cycles. Since the beginning of the pandemic, women who've had COVID-19 reported changes to their menstrual cycle, and Damania said that researchers are assessing reports of changes to the menstrual cycle following vaccination.

Regarding the potential relationship to vaccination, "we don't understand, first, if it's true, and if it were true, what is the mechanism?" he said. "Anything that causes stress, inflammation, and an immune response may have an effect on the menstrual cycle. ... Could it be that the vaccine causes a temporary change in menses? Sure, it's possible, and it's being looked at."

Leila Centner, co-founder and CEO of Centner Academy, the Miami school that has banned vaccinated employees, told NBC News in a statement that "tens of thousands of women all over the world" have reported reproductive issues from being around someone who has been vaccinated.

Baldwin pointed out an Instagram video, now marked as misinformation, in which a nurse, Maureen McDonnell, RN, and a physician, Lawrence Palevsky, MD, discuss the effect of vaccines on women's menstrual cycles.

"This isn't just a trivial thing," Damania said. "It's quite harmful."

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