  We quantify the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on psychological well-being
using information from a large-scale panel survey representative of the UK
population. Exploiting exogenous variation in the timing of vaccinations, we
find that vaccination increases psychological well-being (GHQ-12) by 0.12
standard deviation, compensating for around one-half of the overall decrease
caused by the pandemic. This effect persists for at least two months, and it is
associated with a decrease in the perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19
and higher engagement in social activities. The improvement is 1.5 times larger
for mentally distressed individuals, supporting the prioritization of this
group in vaccination roll-outs.
