The Effect of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Self-Reported Depression and Anxiety During February 2021

Using the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey, we estimate the average effect of COVID-19 vaccinations on self-reported feelings of depression and anxiety, isolation, and worries about health among vaccine-accepting respondents in February 2021, and find 3.7, 3.3, and 4.3 percentage point reductions in the probability of each outcome, respectively, with particularly large reductions among respondents aged 18 and 24 years old. We show that interventions targeting social isolation account for 39.1% of the total effect of COVID-19 vaccinations on depression, while interventions targeting worries about health account for 8.3%. This suggests that social isolation is a stronger mediator of the effect of COVID-19 vaccinations on depression than worries about health. We caution that these causal interpretations rely on strong assumptions. for this article are available online.

Automated summary

Using the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey, researchers found that COVID-19 vaccinations led to reductions in feelings of depression, anxiety, isolation, and worries about health among vaccine-accepting respondents. Social isolation was found to have a stronger impact on depression than worries about health. However, the causal interpretations of these findings rely on strong assumptions.