Europe 'most sceptical about vaccine safety'

Europe is the most sceptical region in the world about vaccine safety, according to a new study.

France was the country least confident in safety, with 41% of those surveyed disagreeing that vaccines are safe, more than three times the global average of 12%.

Of the 1,000 people surveyed in the UK, 6% disagreed that vaccines were important while 90% agreed they were and 4% were uncertain.

There were also 10% of people in the UK who disagreed that vaccines were compatible with their religion along with 71% who said they were and 19% uncertain.

The study found that 9% of people in the UK disagreed with the idea that vaccines were safe while 7% disagreed that vaccines were effective.

They were among nearly 66,000 people from 67 countries who were questioned about their views on whether vaccines are important, safe, effective and compatible with their religious beliefs in the study published in the EBioMedicine journal.

With people from France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Slovenia seeming to have safety doubts, researchers named Europe as the most sceptical region.

France was followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 36% as the country that was least confident about safety. Then there was Russia with 28%, Mongolia with 27% and Greece, Japan and Ukraine – which each recorded a lack of confidence of 25%.

The South East Asian region was most confident in vaccine safety. It includes nations such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand, where respectively fewer than 1%, 3% and 6% disagreed that vaccines were safe.

The study was carried out by researchers from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore.

Lead author Dr Heidi Larson said: “It’s striking that Europe stands out as the region most sceptical about vaccine safety. And, in a world where the internet means beliefs and concerns about vaccines can be shared in an instant, we should not underestimate the influence this can have on other countries around the world.”

She added: “It is vital to global public health that we regularly monitor attitudes towards vaccines so that we can quickly identify countries or groups with declining confidence. We can then act swiftly to investigate what is driving the shift in attitudes. This gives us the best chance of preventing possible outbreaks of diseases like measles, polio and meningitis which can cause illness, life-long disability and death.”

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