Yet another health benefit of COVID vaccine, study reveals

The new research published in the journal PLoS One on Wednesday where officials tracked people who received a first dose of any coronavirus vaccine between December 2020 and March 2021.

They found that those who had received a shot were less likely to show signs of mild or severe depression than those who had not been vaccinated, including those who intended to get vaccinated but had not yet been able to.

And given that mental health is every bit as important as physical health, it’s yet another reason for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated.

People who received the first dose of any coronavirus vaccine between December 2020 and March 2021 were less prone to developing mild or severe depression than those who had not been vaccinated, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.

Researchers surveyed 8,003 adults and asked questions about their vaccine and mental health status during the pandemic.

Although study authors can’t pinpoint exactly why the increase in happiness levels, there may be a few key reasons.

Those who get vaccinated may be less stressed about getting sick from the coronavirus, researchers said. They may also be more social or try new work opportunities.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected several aspects of people’s lives, including their employment and finances, health risks and opportunities to socialize, all of which can affect mental health,” study authors said.

About 4 in 10 American adults, for example, struggled with mental health or substance abuse in the summer of 2020 — up from about 1 in 10 adults before COVID-19 hit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the height of the pandemic, “mental health distress rose sharply” and began to recover partially until peaking again in April and returning to a “level comparable to that of early March” five months later, according to the study.

Economic improvement, including unemployment insurance and stimulus checks, may have played a role in the “recovery of mental health” since April of last year, researchers said.

Nonetheless, the findings suggest that getting vaccinated isn’t a remedy to curing Americans of mental health stressors but rather a “short-term direct effect of getting a first vaccine dose.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.