Los Angeles, California - The chief concerns aired about coronavirus vaccines have been about side effects. Now, new researched has emerged that finds the vaccine might have positive effects on your health, too.

As of Friday, over 200 million Americans had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, President Biden said.

According to the University of Southern California, the shots actually have had a wide-reaching and positive side effect of significantly improving the mental health of recipients across the US – even after only the first dose of a two-jab regimen.

Published by the journal PLOS and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the research is based on a survey of around 8,000 Americans.

"Vaccine uptake may improve quality of life and economic outlook, enabling people to resume previous activities, become more socially active, return to working in person, or become employed," the researchers said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that though "public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of Covid-19," they also "make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety."

Vaccine roll-outs could in turn help offset such impacts, including those caused by "intimate touch deprivation during Covid-19," which Sorbonne researcher Louise Kirsch and colleagues from University College London said "is associated with higher anxiety and greater loneliness."

Kirsch's research, which was carried out during the first lockdowns last year, was published on Wednesday by Britain's Royal Society, and points to "the important role of interpersonal and particularly intimate touch in times of distress."

"Intimate (versus friendly and professional) touch was reported as the least deprived type of touch, yet such effects seem to be the most pervasive on psychological wellbeing," according to the Royal Society paper.

Thus, the new research might help contribute to the ongoing fight against vaccine hesitancy, and in making us feel more upbeat, too.