Trust in AstraZeneca vaccine plummets further across Europe
Trust in the safety of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe has dropped even further, after 17 countries made a quickly overturned decision to ban the jab last week.
A new YouGov survey showed 55 per cent of Germans, 61 per cent of the French, 52 per cent of Spanish people and 43 per cent of Italians now see the vaccine as unsafe.
The figures showed that decisions by major European countries to temporarily ban the vaccines have severely dented trust in the jab, with the amount of pepole saying it is unsafe sharply rising over the past two weeks.
The 17 countries – including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Ireland – banned the jab due to unfounded concerns over vaccine-induced blood clots.
The European medicines regulator found there to be no evidence of increased blood clots from the vaccine.
Just 23 per cent of French people now think the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and many in the country are refusing to take the jab.
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year falsely called the UK jab “quasi-ineffective” against over-65s.
France is now only allowing over-55s to take the vaccine, after earlier banning it for over-65s.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, told the BBC that the EU’s vaccine rollout has been “completely crackers”.
Matt Smith, lead data journalist at YouGov, said: “After concerns about its protection and potency were raised by leaders across Europe, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has undoubtedly suffered damage to its reputation for safety on the continent.
“Not only have we seen considerable rises in those who consider it unsafe in the last two weeks in Europe, the AstraZeneca vaccine continues to be seen as substantially less safe than its Pfizer and Moderna counterparts.”
The EU’s vaccine rollout continues to struggle as major nations like Germany, the Netherlands and France have only jabbed around one-in-ten citizens.
The UK, on the other hand, has now vaccinated over half of its adult population.
It comes as Europe is being gripped by a third wave of Covid-19.
Rates are surging across the continent, with France and Italy heading back into lockdown.