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Around the world, governments are weighing how they can convince a large enough number of people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to achieve herd immunity.
But an international survey shows that confidence in vaccines is already on the rise despite relatively few countries having launched public awareness campaigns, and fear of missing a suggested jab as a factor.
In the Imperial College London survey, the proportion of respondents who “fully agreed” to receive a vaccine if it was offered increased by eight percentage points or more in nine of the 14 countries surveyed between November and mid-February.
Trust in vaccines is exceptionally high in the UK, which has seen not only one of the smoothest immunization deployments in the world, but also a more proactive public information campaign than other countries. Up to 70% of those surveyed expressed their enthusiasm for taking a hit in the most emphatic way possible.
In Israel, which has already vaccinated half its population against the coronavirus, confidence was similarly high, with 60% of those surveyed strongly agreeing to take the vaccine if it was offered in the week of the survey.
But the survey shows that skepticism is also fading in countries where vaccination campaigns have gotten off to a slower start, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.
In all countries surveyed, willingness to receive a vaccine is strongly correlated with an anticipated regret of not receiving a Covid-19 pin when available, suggesting that the latter could be a key factor in changing attitudes.
“Regret for not doing something can have an even stronger effect on people’s health behaviors than perceptions of risk or negative emotions like guilt and disappointment,” said Sarah Jones, a researcher at the Imperial School of Medicine. who designed the survey.
“It is plausible that as the willingness to vaccinate us in the future increases, the objects of our possible regrets are becoming more important to us: could I regret missing another birthday party, another funeral, another hug?”
Vaccine Confidence Charts
Noel Brewer, professor of health behavior at the University of North Carolina, said: “Governments are the most important organizations in charge of trust in vaccines. But they are not the only factors at play: the impression of scarcity can also raise the prestige of being vaccinated. The risk is that the shortage can also demoralize people if they feel they will never have a chance to get vaccinated. “
Vaccine hesitancy remains relatively high in France, and the Imperial College survey shows that it is the only country where there are more people who strongly disagree with receiving an available vaccine than those who strongly agree.
But French hesitancy has also steadily declined since some polls last year suggested that just four in 10 people would be willing to take a hit as soon as one was available.
Studies show that vaccine vacillation is strongly correlated with a lack of trust in government and state institutions, and experts have suggested that envy of weather and vaccines may be more effective in overcoming vacillation than strident messages. of the government.
Vaccine hesitancy is also prevalent in high-income countries in Asia, with a smaller percentage of the population expressing a willingness to get vaccinated early in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
In Japan, where the vaccination campaign will not start until the beginning of April, only 5% of respondents said they were very confident in Covid-19 vaccines in general, compared to 48% in the UK, although here too the Confidence has been on an upward trajectory. since mid-January.
While Japan does not have an anti-vaccine movement comparable to Europe or the United States, there is a relatively high level of vacillation due to the country’s experience with MMR and HPV vaccines.
The Ministry of Health stopped offering combined MMR vaccines in the early 1990s after several children suffered adverse reactions. The government then lost a series of high-profile compensation cases filed by families of children who had died or were left severely disabled. Side effects were rare and some were reported to be related to the vaccine when they should have been attributed to other causes. But official nervousness over the lawsuits and sensational media coverage helped spread skepticism among Japanese parents.
In South Korea, where only 31% expressed their willingness to take the vaccine if it were available, the government has also chosen to delay the launch while observing possible side effects in other countries, despite ordering enough doses to inoculate all 52 million inhabitants of the country.
The delay is partly due to South Korea’s relative success in containing the outbreak. With infection rates much lower than in most of Europe, it doesn’t make sense that an urgent mass vaccination program is the country’s last chance to control infections.
In Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly undermined vaccination, the latest polls show that 79% of Brazilians intend to get vaccinated despite their stance. Yet that’s down from 89% last August, suggesting that the president’s skepticism, particularly towards the China-produced Coronavac, has had an impact on the public’s mood.
According to the World Health Organization, the proportion of a country’s population that must be vaccinated to begin inducing herd immunity is still under investigation, although epidemiologists have offered figures between 70% and 90%.
Additional reporting from Jon Henley in Paris, Justin McCurry in Tokyo, and Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro.
