Yusen Zhai, Ph.D. New research published in Lancet Regional Health-Americas from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Education and Human Sciences , College of Arts and Sciences , and Heersink School of Medicine found that the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States was associated with decreased anxiety and depression rates among adults. However, some groups — including Black Americans, non-Hispanic persons of color and lower-income adults — experienced worsened mental health after certain vaccine rollout phases.
Lead author and director of the UAB Community Counseling Clinic Yusen Zhai, Ph.D., says existing evidence already highlighted increased mental health issues among the U.S. population after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, he says there was a noticeable lack of empirical evidence assessing the potential impacts of different phases of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout on mental health, particularly on a populational level.
“The empirical evidence gleaned from this study suggests the disparate effects of the phased vaccine rollout on mental health across U.S. populations, underlining the need for careful planning in future strategies for phased disease prevention and interventions,” Zhai said.
Zhai and his team performed a U.S. population-based multi-intervention interrupted time series analysis through both Deep Learning and statistical approaches, analyzing four waves of the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (January 2019-February 2023) to assess changes in the weekly prevalence of anxiety and depression following all major COVID-19 vaccine rollout phases from 2020 to early 2023 while considering pandemic-related events.
The study provided robust findings identifying both positive and negative mental health outcomes related to this gradual, multi-phased COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Several COVID-19 vaccine rollout phases helped alleviate the mental health burden in the United States. Among the general U.S. adult population, anxiety and depression rates declined during specific phases of the rollout.
For example, vaccination prioritization for educational and child care workers led to a notable reduction in anxiety and depression, benefiting the child care workers but also caregivers and families. A significant decrease in anxiety and depression also occurred following the booster shot rollouts for all adults, which provided broader protection, and alleviated fears associated with the variants. Additionally, […]
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