Emotional Reaction to the First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine: Postvaccination Decline in Anxiety and Stress among Anxious Individuals and Increase among Individuals with Normal Prevaccination Anxiety Levels

Abstract

Although vaccination has been adopted by the WHO to limit worldwide transmission of COVID-19, people’s worries about COVID-19 vaccines may suppress their desire for vaccination despite vaccine availability. This study aimed to investigate anxiety and stress symptoms among 250 Jordanians (mean age = 43.18 ± 6.34 years, 72% females) who received their first vaccine dose. The respondents completed the anxiety and stress subscales of the Depression Anxiety and Stress scale 21 (DASS-21) before and after vaccination. The respondents expressed more moderate–severe levels of stress before than after vaccination (20.8% and 13.2%, respectively). Meanwhile, 37.2% and 45.2% of the respondents expressed moderate–severe anxiety before and after vaccination, respectively. Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that the drop in the level of stress from before- (median (IQR) = 5 (1–8)) to after vaccination (median (IQR) = 3 (1–7)) was statistically significant (z = −3.81, p = 0.001, r = 0.17) while the increase in anxiety was not. Anxiety significantly dropped postvaccination among individuals experiencing mild to severe anxiety before vaccination. Similarly, stress and anxiety significantly increased among individuals expressing normal anxiety before vaccination (z = −3.57 and −8.24, p values = 0.001, r = 0.16 and 0.37, respectively). Age positively correlated with postvaccination anxiety among respondents with mild prevaccination anxiety, and it negatively correlated with the prevaccination level of stress in the normal-anxiety group. Gender, marital status, respondents’ level of education, and history of COVID-19 infection had no significant correlation with anxiety or stress at either point of measurement. Overcoming their hesitancy to receive COVID-19 vaccines, individuals with normal levels of anxiety experienced a rise in their distress symptoms following immunization. On the contrary, vaccination seemed to desensitize anxious individuals. Policymakers need to formulate a population-specific plan to increase vaccine preparedness and promote psychological well-being over all during the pandemic.

Rasch Modeling and Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the Usability of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although we did not examine exposure to COVID-19 infection among the respondents, vicarious trauma may exist through exposure to COVID-19 news and false information circulated on social media (e.g., death rates, the idea that the virus causing the disease was man-made as a biological weapon to target specific populations, etc.) [ 22 , 24 , 30 ]. Therefore, no accurate data are available on the participants’ physical or mental health status.…”

“…Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has induced many negative psychological responses, which significantly burden mental wellbeing [ 4 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. The COVID-19-related news and rumors, conspiracy beliefs amongst the general public during the early stages of the crisis, the spread of rumors and fake information through mass media and social media, the lack of vaccines during the early pandemic period, and inequity in vaccine distribution or health care provision, as well as disease-associated stigma, were all reported in the literature to be associated with significant impacts on mental health [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Moreover, the COVID-19-induced emotional reactions due to infection and pandemic-associated mitigation measures (e.g., lockdown, facemasks, travel restrictions, etc.)…”

The Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Examining Its Cutoff Scores among Arab Psychiatric Patients and Healthy Adults within the Context of COVID-19 as a Collective Traumatic Event

“…Only those using social media took part in the study. Changes in the rates of PTSD symptoms across different waves of the pandemic have been reported e.g., PTSD rates in healthcare workers slightly increased following the appearance of new viral variants [ 12 ] while slight reductions in PTSD rates were reported following COVID-19 vaccinations [ 4 ]. Therefore, PTSD reported in this study may not reflect COVID-19 trauma during the pandemic, which has been ongoing for more than three years.…”

“…Emerging in China in late 2019 and rapidly spreading to all parts of the world to take lives of millions of people, Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) has been announced by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic [ 1 , 2 ]. High infectivity of the disease (despite hygiene measures), development of new viral strains, treatment and vaccination failure, along with high fatality in certain groups (old people and patients which chronic disorders) have created a collective crisis that strikes not only COVID-19 victims and their relatives but extends to affect many specific groups in the whole community [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Moreover, lockdown and social distancing measures enforced by most countries to reduce disease transmission have created a state of loneliness and promoted the flaring of negative emotions and the development of disordered behaviors (e.g., internet addiction, dysfunctional eating, and domestic violence, etc.…”

The Impact of Event Scale – Revised: Examining its cutoff scores among Arab psychiatric patients and healthy adults within the context of COVID-19 as a collective traumatic event

“…2 of 12 vaccination failure, along with high fatality in certain groups (old people and patients which chronic disorders) have created a collective crisis that strikes not only COVID-19 victims and their relatives but extends to affect the whole community [3][4][5][6]. Moreover, lockdown and social distancing measures enforced by most countries to reduce disease transmission have created a general state of loneliness and promoted the flaring of negative emotions and the development of disordered behaviors (e.g., internet addiction, dysfunctional eating, and domestic violence, etc.…”