First dose of Covid-19 jab boosts mental health, says study

The first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine has significantly improved mental health of people, a recent study in the US has found.

The global coronavirus pandemic has affected people’s lives including jobs and finances – leading to mental distress

According to a study mental health among people worsened in the US around March 2020 and returned to normalcy in August 2020.

Once the vaccine rollout started, a group of scientists surveyed people to compare mental health of people who received a vaccine shot and those who did not. The results of the study was published in the PLOS ONETrusted Source journal.

From the study, the scientists concluded that “getting the first dose of Covid-19 [vaccine] resulted in significant improvements in mental health, beyond improvements already achieved since mental distress peaked in the spring of 2020.”

The researchers surveyed 8,003 adult participants between March 10, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the MedicalNewsToday reported.

From December 2020, respondents were asked if they had received their first shot of Covid-19 vaccine, and based on their answers, specific values were assigned to the participants of the survey.

Using the specific values, the mental health trajectory was compared between people who received a shot at some point of time and with those who had never received a vaccine.

The results of both the groups were similar until December 2020. But once the Covid-19 vaccine was out after that point, there was a marked difference in baseline levels of mental health in both groups.

Researchers finally concluded that there are short-term direct effects of getting the first Covid-19 vaccine jab.