By Bob Yirka, Medical Xpress — 9 September 2021
A team of researchers at the University of Southern California has found evidence suggesting that people who were vaccinated against COVID-19 experienced less stress afterward and saw resulting improvements in their mental health, according to a paper published in PLOS ONE. The team was participating in the ‘Understanding America Study’ — a long-term project established at USC to track the impact of the pandemic on mental health — which sent out more than 8,000 surveys to people across the country with questions geared toward gauging pandemic impacts. Data from the surveys showed that the majority of people have been experiencing some degree of anxiety and depression as a result of the pandemic.
In this latest survey, respondents were asked about impacts on their mental health after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. The researchers found that respondents experienced a 15% decrease in the likelihood of feeling very depressed after being vaccinated, and a 4% reduction in the likelihood of feeling just mildly depressed. The researchers estimate that based on their data, approximately 1 million people have felt reductions in mental distress after being vaccinated. The data also indicates that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 does more than just protect people from infection — it also greatly reduces the fear and anxiety people feel about their likelihood of being infected. The researchers note that the overall project is still ongoing, with more surveys to be sent out to determine how people are feeling regarding variants and potential booster shots.