The Association between Socio-Demographics and Mental Distress Following COVID-19 Vaccination—Mediation of Vaccine Hesitancy

Abstract

The COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to over 200 countries and regions. With the unprecedented vaccination scale and speed, vaccination correlated mental health issues should be paid precise attention to. This study aims to assess the association between socio-demographic factors and mental health following vaccination and to analyze the mediation effect of vaccine hesitancy. This study recruited 2112 individuals who took two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Shanghai. Structural equation modeling was performed to assess factors associated with anxiety and depression of the vaccinated individuals and the underlying mechanism. The results yielded that vaccine hesitancy partially mediated/suppressed the effect from gender and employment status to anxiety/depression and fully mediated the effects from education to anxiety/depression. This study advanced the understanding of mental health disparity among different socio-demographic groups after vaccination and the impact of vaccine hesitancy on the vaccinated population’s mental health. The finding offered insights into the possible mental vulnerability of people holding a hesitant attitude before vaccination and suggested that vaccine hesitancy played a crucial role in people’s mental health after vaccination. Health promotion programs can target vaccine hesitancy to prevent unfavorable mental health consequences among specific populations.

Association between COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza Vaccines to Vaccine Hesitancy, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Mental Health

“…Nevertheless, the relationship between vaccine hesitancy, intolerance of uncertainty, and mental health factors and those who were vaccinated against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza in comparison to those who did not vaccinate against both or decided to be vaccinated with only one of these vaccines remains uninvestigated. Although some studies have investigated the relationship between psychological factors and vaccine hesitancy since the COVID-19 pandemic [ 23 , 28 , 29 ], these did not address the interplay between the aforementioned factors, as previously depicted [ 30 ]. Shedding light on these relationships will help policymakers design appropriate interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy.…”

Factors related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among middle-income and low-income adults in the USA

“…Other studies, particularly one among Israelis28 and another in Indians,29 showed negative psychological outcomes after vaccination but a bidirectional association of vaccine hesitancy and mental health among Saudis 29. In support of the causal direction of vaccine hesitancy on psychiatric outcomes, Zhang et al found that vaccine hesitancy mediated the effect of sociodemographics on anxiety and depression among their Chinese study population 30. This information could be used in public health messaging to endorse vaccination among mentally ill populations and the general population.…”

“…We measured intent to vaccinate, and attitudes may have changed by the time vaccine availability became widespread. This is likely given the role of social and news media in informing or misinforming the public regarding the development and distribution of the vaccine 30–32. Additionally, the wave 3 survey was administered beginning in February, which was about 3 months into the emergency use authorisation of the first available vaccine; consequently, rollout had been limited to frontline essential workers and high-risk individuals such as those ≥75 years or immunocompromised individuals.…”

Is vaccine hesitancy related to mental health after the adjustment of the zero-COVID-19 strategy in the elderly? A mediation analysis in China

“…The Sobel test was employed to examine the mediating role of vaccine hesitancy. 53 Additionally, the RIT (Indirect effect/Total effect) and RID (Indirect effect/Direct effect) methods were used to estimate the proportion of mediating results explained by vaccine hesitancy.…”