RICHMOND, Va. -- A new study revealed that three in four U.S. adults who have received their dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reported improved mental health after receiving their shot.
Walgreens surveyed 1,500 people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The study revealed, “nearly 75% of vaccinated U.S. adults say that getting the vaccine has positively impacted their mental health.”
“Having endured the past year plus 15 months of the pandemic and recognizing that the vaccine can really be the catalyst for people getting back to the things people truly value and missed the most of that time,” said Jim Cohn, a Walgreens spokesman.
Those surveyed were asked how comfortable they were resuming activities like traveling, gathering indoors, going to the gym or dining out.
More than two-thirds, 67%, of respondents feel that vaccination will benefit their physical health as well.
Prior to being vaccinated, 70% of people said that going to the gym was the activity that made them most uncomfortable. However, 75% of respondents now say they’re comfortable getting back to the gym having received the vaccine, according to the study.
“People have missed some of those favorite activities and things they do as part of their day-to-day lifestyle,” Cohn explained.
Amanda Smider is one of the three million Virginians who are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The pandemic forced the Richmond high school math teacher to miss out on the activities she loved doing with friends.
“I stopped running for a few months,” she recalled. “It felt like everything was taken away.”
Smider admitted she was emotional when she joined her marathon training teammates for a session over the weekend for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
“As soon as I saw my friends Callie and Lisa I broke down and cried,” she explained. “It was just so exciting to get to see these good people I haven’t seen in so long in person and get back to doing something that I loved and sharing it with other people.”
Now government officials are urging people to get vaccinated as supply is outpacing demand. Approximately 35.1% of Virginians are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
About 80% of Americans live within a five-mile radius of the three available COVID-19 vaccines.
If you type your zip code or address into Vaccines.org, you’ll be given a list of the closest locations where you can get your shot.
Also, families can expect the government to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for teenagers ages 12 through 15 this week.
“It’s so nice to have that sense of normalcy and have a little piece of my life that I felt was snatched away,” Smider stated.
