{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T08:39:38Z","timestamp":1790066378121,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,28]],"date-time":"2022-07-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658966400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003390","name":"Fritz Thyssen Stiftung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003390","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>During the recent pandemic, fear of COVID-19 has been widespread and is considered to deteriorate mental health. We assessed whether vaccination can effectively reduce the fear of COVID-19 and, thus, contribute to improving people's mental health status. We used two-wave panel data from a German online study collected in April 2021 (t1) and August\/September 2021 (t2) and estimated differences-in-differences to determine whether those who were vaccinated against COVID-19 experienced a reduction of fear of COVID-19, and whether the reduction was more evident as compared to people who were not vaccinated for various reasons. Fear of COVID-19 generally decreased between t1 and t2 for all respondents. Moreover, reduction of fear for people who were unvaccinated at t1 but received the vaccine between t1 and t2 was strongest as compared to people who did not get vaccinated during that period, even after we controlled for factors associated with fear (e.g., age, gender). Vaccination reduced fear of COVID-19 beyond some seasonal fluctuation and, therefore, we argue that vaccination partially reduces the psychological distress caused by the pandemic. We recommend that scientists, practitioners, and politicians highlight this additional positive effect of vaccination in health communication.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.878787","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,28]],"date-time":"2022-07-28T09:49:58Z","timestamp":1659001798000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Vaccination against COVID-19 reduces virus-related fears: Findings from a German longitudinal study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Daniel","family":"Seddig","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dina","family":"Maskileyson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eldad","family":"Davidov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"708430","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2021.708430","article-title":"Fear of COVID 19 infection across different cohorts: a scoping review","volume":"12","author":"Quadros","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Psychiatry"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"661078","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.661078","article-title":"Systematic review and meta-analysis of fear of COVID-19","volume":"12","author":"Luo","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"591797","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.591797","article-title":"Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and anxiety in University undergraduate students: a predictive model for depression","volume":"11","author":"Rodr\u00edguez-Hidalgo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"607","DOI":"10.1007\/s11469-020-00470-2","article-title":"Fear of COVID-19 and mental health: the role of mindfulness in during times of crisis","volume":"20","author":"Belen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Ment Health Addict."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.674018","article-title":"COVID-19 pandemic worry and vaccination intention: the mediating role of the health belief model components","volume-title":"Front Psychol","author":"Iacob","year":"2021"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"111188","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2021.111188","article-title":"The relationship between fear of COVID-19 and intention to get vaccinated. 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