Europe’s biggest challenge with COVID-19 vaccination started: vaccine skepticism

Members of the European Union (EU) began vaccinating against Corona 19 immediately on the 27th (local time). However, not a few European citizens remain skeptical about the vaccine.

The EU has contracted over 2 billion doses of vaccines developed by Pfizer / Bioentech, Modena, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson and Curebag. Even with two doses, the EU population of about 450 million people could be affected twice.

″ Today we turn the pages of a difficult year. The COVID-19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU member states ”. In a video posted on Twitter by EU Commissioner Ursula Ponderrayen said. “#EU Vaccination Day”.

″ When enough people are vaccinated, we can begin the journey. You will meet again with your friends and family. We can have the regular vacation that we all desperately want. ”President Ponderrayen said.

However, vaccine development and obtaining vaccine quantities are just the beginning.

“There doesn’t seem to be any vaccine in history that has been validated so quickly.” Ireneussi Sikorsky, 41, whom Reuters met in front of a church in Warsaw, Poland, he said. I mean a fundamental question that many people may have.

“I’m not saying I shouldn’t get vaccinated,” he said, but “I’m not going to try an untested vaccine on my child or myself.”

Reuters said that less than 40% of people in Poland would receive the vaccine, where public confidence is low. Only half of the medical staff requested the vaccine at a hospital in Warsaw, where the vaccine was started in Poland.

In Bulgaria, 45% of those surveyed said they would not receive the vaccine. 40% said they would decide after looking for side effects. In particular, it was found that less than 20% of the medical staff, teachers and hospital nursing staff, who were classified as priority vaccinations, volunteered to receive the vaccine.

According to a survey conducted at the end of last October, European countries showed less confidence in vaccines than China (88.6%) and Korea (79.7%). Poland (56.3%) and France (58.8%) had the lowest levels, while Sweden and Germany also remained in the 60% range. In Spain, where credibility is higher, the response was only 74.3%.

Scientists have battled various vain conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines. The vaccine can manipulate human DNA or the vaccine contains tissues from an aborted fetus. The old conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism does not fall apart.

Of course, not all doubts about vaccines stem from conspiracy theories. Given the unprecedented rapid development of vaccines, it is natural to have some doubts.

Experts cite the accumulated achievements of science and technology along with massive funding as the reason the Corona 19 vaccine could be developed rapidly. Also, although some allergic side effects were seen in the United States and the United Kingdom, where vaccination was started, they were all mild and no serious side effects were reported.

“We’re going to look back at the progress (science) has made in 2020 and say, ‘It was a real breakthrough in science,'” Jeremy Farah director of the Oxford University Clinical Laboratory told Reuters.