Thread by @usnehal

Adding the word "experience" to an online survey of biological & immunological mechanisms does not make it anthropology. People who are spreading online rumors about vaccines need to take a hard look at what they are doing. There are valid ways to collect health data. Use them.

There are real, concerning, harmful gaps in knowledge in #womenshealth. Bad data of the GIGO method of data collection for quick and dirty "research" on "vaccine side effect" merely replaces one harm with another harm. searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/gar…

If collecting data, overtly on "vaccine" and "side effect" claiming causation from temporal relation
for "after" on something as highly variable as menses, w/ deliberate inclusion of perimenopause (known menstrual variation)
=methodology used by anti-vaxx

sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/f…

First of all, 65% of women have said their cycle was already affected by the pandemic alone - likely due to stress, activity changes, sleep, diet, etc, etc

womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/a339…

Anyone can create an online survey in minutes, bypassing all the usual #privacy #quality #safety mechanisms we use to study by valid methods. It gets picked up by the media quickly

=ripe for adding to #vaccine hysteria (here using the uterus for fear)

courthousenews.com/study-finds-on…

In fact, long #COVID19 wreaks havoc on the whole body, including menses. This is a very important, understudied #womenshealth and #menstrualhealth issue that deserves attention. #MedTwitter

Vaccines prevent long COVID (by preventing COVID itself).

medicalnewstoday.com/articles/long-…

Gaps in knowledge in #womenshealth and #menstrualhealth and #fertility deserve #quality #data. Distrust of doctors and medical science on this issue is driven by the patriarchal past, primarily towards women of color, especially salves.

history.com/news/the-fathe…

As women of color are doctors or in STEM in the U.S. there is a bizarre, often women-driven by non-STEM women

silencing, shaming, & attacking of WOC in science who are seeking to democratize data by *valid*, vetted, verified methods that ensure #data #integrity. #WomeninSTEM

..because women deserve #quality

Yes, quality is hard & takes time

The unwillingness to invest time, money, other resources in #womenshealth & #menstrualhealth is why there is low #quality in #data or outcomes

New bad quality data on #womenshealth & #vaccines harms

With MMR we had essentially eradicated it. Is NOT the case with #COVID19. We know 65% of women were experiencing menstrual irregularity with the #pandemic alone
= baseline

We know how anti-vaxx ideas got conceived & spread

Same junk science
#vaccine

nature.com/articles/ni120…

None of us need self-appointed crusaders to keep adding to this kind of #misinformation on #vaccines that harms real people. Before taking on the heady, ego-affirming, activist role of "I'm going to uncover something about vaccines and menses" - think.

statnews.com/2017/05/08/mea…

Those who do keyboard activism do not deal with the real-life consequences of what they put out there

WIth zero biological plausibility of single dose of vaccine as "cause" for change in menses in perimenopause or pregnancy, one can only generate nonsense "data" for anti-vaxx

There's the vaccine hesitancy of those harmed in the past, which is logical.

Then there are vaccine conspiracies of anti-vaxx like microchipping and infertilty.

Creating junk data on menses (menstruation=fertility) can only add to the existing fears

healthline.com/health-news/no…

I call a spade a spade when it comes to #accuracy, #quality, #safety, #womenshealth, #menstrualhealth ...frankly, in general.

Honest assessment for harm avoidance and to use only vetted, validated, verified data offends many who seek short cuts or see selves as crusaders.

In trade offs of harm reduction

harm to a self styled crusader's feelings by poor #data #integrity called by it's appropriate term or not

Or harm of contributing or generating nonsensical "data" on "vaccine side effect" on menses

I choose the latter harm reduction.