Associations between vaccination and quality of life among Taiwan general population: A comparison between COVID-19 vaccines and flu vaccines

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted lives worldwide and has led to global vaccination against COVID-19. However, there are concerns about the adverse effects of such vaccines on individuals’ health. Therefore, it is important to investigate the association between vaccination and holistic health outcome (i.e., quality of life [QoL]). The present study analyzed data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), a survey conducted utilizing stratified random sampling. More specifically, data (N = 1425; 47.44% males; mean age = 50.58 y) on their vaccinations (including COVID-19 and flu vaccines) and QoL (using the Short-Form 12) were used. Participants were separated into two age subgroups for analyses (those aged below 50 y, and those 50 y or above). For participants aged below 50 y, those who received COVID-19 vaccine and those who received both COVID-19 and flu vaccines had significantly better physical QoL than those who did not receive any vaccination. Mental QoL was not significantly associated with vaccinations for participants aged below 50 y. Moreover, neither mental nor physical QoL was significantly associated with vaccinations for those aged 50 y or above. The present study showed that not having COVID-19 and flu vaccinations is associated with poor QoL. This finding should be disseminated to the public to help aid vaccination promotion.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• flu
• influenza
• quality of life
• Taiwan
• vaccine uptake

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by a research grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [MOST 109-2740-H-001-001-SS3; MOST109-2327-B-006-005; MOST111-2321-B-006-009] and a research grant from the Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital Cross-Institutions Fund [110-swf-01].