The associations between COVID-19 vaccination and psychological disorders among healthcare workers in China.

Introduction: COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented psychological affection that might impact the nationwide vaccination program in China. This study was to explore the association between COVID-19 vaccination and psychological disorders among healthcare workers.

Methods: The study included 1571 healthcare workers from an anonymous online survey. Participants' sociodemographic characteristics, uptake data for the COVID-19 vaccine, and scores of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were collected. Nonparametric tests were conducted to compare the mean scores of DASS-21 between different subgroups. The potential factors related to psychological disorders of healthcare workers were analyzed using logistic regression.

Results: The vaccination rate was 69.6 %, the incidence of vaccine-related adverse events was 35.13 %, and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress were 24.8 %, 32 %, and 33.4 % in this study, respectively. Compared to vaccinated participants (single-dose and double-dose vaccines), unvaccinated participants got significantly higher mean scores of DASS-21 (p < 0.05 for all). Vaccinated participants who suffered no adverse events scored significantly lower than those who suffered 1-2 or ≥3 adverse events (p < 0.05 for all). Vaccination was negatively associated with higher depression, anxiety, and stress, however, the number of vaccine-related adverse events was positively associated with them.

Limitations: As this is a cross-sectional study, we could only speculate on the causality.

Conclusions: An obvious impact of the psychological disorders on the COVID-19 vaccine coverage and related adverse events was detected in this study. Public health agencies should attach great importance to the psychological states of our citizens before getting vaccinated.