Apart from protecting against serious illnesses from coronavirus infection, vaccination against COVID-19 may prove helpful in managing the risk of depression and anxiety, according to a new study.
A recent research from the University of Southern California and the RAND Corporation, showed that there are strong suggestions by scientists that vaccination against COVID-19 reduces depression and anxiety symptoms by almost 30 percent. According to the paper, the phobia for testing positive among the frontline workers coupled with social isolation had affected many emotionally.
There were serious reductions observed in depression or anxiety symptoms among person’s with lower education levels, who lack the capacity to work remotely, who rent their houses and who have children in their household.
“We estimate that COVID-19 vaccination reduces anxiety and depression symptoms by nearly 30 percent. Nearly all the benefits are private and we find little evidence of spillover effects, that is, increases in community vaccination rates are not associated with improved anxiety or depression symptoms among the unvaccinated”, they said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression and anxiety cost the global economy a whooping one trillion dollars every year, in terms of lost productivity, compelling companies to improve their mental health support services for workers.
Going by statistics from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, people suffering from depression miss an average of 4 to 8 workdays and suffer 11.5 days of reduced productivity over a three-month period.
A commentary in the journal “Nature” observes that “Researchers worldwide are investigating the causes and impacts of this stress and some fear that the deterioration in mental health could linger long after the pandemic has subsided. Scientists hope that they can use the mountains of data collected in studies about mental health to link the impact of particular control measures to changes in people’s wellbeing and to inform the management of future pandemics”.
