Distrust of government leading to ‘alarming’ vaccine scepticism, poll finds

The number of people willing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 has shrunk in several major western countries – with distrust of government blamed for the hesitancy, an “alarming” new survey has found.

Only a minority of the public in the UK, the US, France, Germany and Italy said they would “definitely” take a coronavirus vaccinate when one becomes available, according to the Kantar poll.  

In findings that suggest Boris Johnson’s government faces a huge challenge in managing a widespread roll-out, only 43 per cent of Britons said they were sure they would get vaccinated if eligible – down from 50 per cent in June.

Another 32 per cent of people in the UK said they would “probably” be willing to get the vaccine, down four points since the summer.

Scepticism has risen even higher in the US and parts of western Europe. The proportion of Americans saying they would definitely take a vaccine has fallen from 47 per cent in June to just 30 per cent today.

Only 21 per cent of French citizens said they would definitely take a vaccine, while 35 per cent of Germans and 38 per cent of Italians said they were definite about vaccination if eligible – with all three countries seeing falls in enthusiasm since June.

Emmanuel Riviere, head of Kantar’s centre on the future of Europe, said the findings were “quite alarming” for governments around the world. “When less than half the population of a nation say they will definitely take a vaccine, this implies that governments will have a huge task ahead of them in building up trust in any approved vaccine,” he said.

Mr Riviere believes governments can currently only count on the most enthusiastic people to “proactively” seek out the vaccine this winter.

“Everyone else will have to be persuaded, or the barriers to inoculation will have to be so low as to ensure that those saying that they will probably take a vaccine actually end up being vaccinated. There is a long journey ahead on this.”

Kantar’s analysts found that low levels trust in government was a factor in vaccine hesitancy. The countries with the least trust in government – France (18 per cent trust) and US (14 per cent trust) also see the lowest numbers willing to be vaccinated.

In the UK, just 31 per cent of the public trust Mr Johnson’s government as a source of reliable information on a Covid-19 vaccine.

Many remain sceptical about the conditions under which vaccines have been developed. In four of the five countries surveyed by the pollster – the UK, the US, France and Italy – a majority expressed concern about the safety of vaccines because of the speed with which they are produced.

Some 53 per cent of Britons and 55 per cent of Americans are worried about the safety of Covid vaccines because of the speed with which breakthroughs have occurred.

Britain has secured five million doses of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by IUs company Moderna after it reported results showing it was 95 per cent effective in preventing the virus, health secretary Matt Hancock announced on Monday.

Although the Moderna jab won’t be available until the spring, the UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and hopes to begin rolling it out before Christmas.

Sir John Bell, who is part of the Oxford vaccine team, said earlier on Tuesday that if the jab developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca works then it will be initially producing three and a half billion doses.