It Looks Like Europeans Are Becoming More Pro-Vaccine

The number of people willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine has risen across nine major European nations, according to YouGov’s ongoing “Willingness to be Vaccinated” survey. 

Scandinavian countries, as well as southern European countries, have all witnessed a rise in the number of people willing to get the vaccine (or who have already had the vaccine), with the UK seeing a 20 percent increase between November and January. 

France, a nation that is battling strong anti-vaccine sentiment, has seen a significant increase in the number of people willing to get the vaccine or who have already been vaccinated. In November, YouGov found that only 32 percent were willing – a number that later dropped to 24 percent in December. Recent stats, however, show that 46 percent of people surveyed in France have either already received the vaccine, or would accept it if offered. 

France still trails massively behind the UK, however, which out of the countries surveyed has the highest percentage of people who would get the vaccine or have already done so, at 81 percent. This may be due to the fact that the UK was the first nation to begin its vaccine roll-out on the 8th of December. Currently, over 4 million people in the UK have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Sweden saw the biggest increase in willingness to receive the vaccine. In November, only 45 percent of Swedes said they would be willing to get the vaccine. Recent statistics show that 66 percent of Swedes would now get the vaccine or have already done so. The king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, recently denounced the country’s controversial COVID strategy, calling its light-touch approach to coronavirus restrictions, “a failure.”

Italy and Finland also reported large rises in the percentage of people who would get the vaccine, or who had already received it. Both saw a 19 percent increase to 71 percent and 69 percent respectively. 

Countries outside of Europe, however, have not reported the same change in attitudes towards the vaccine. Hong Kong has seen a 15 percent drop in the number of people willing to get the vaccine, while the willingness to get the vaccine in the US has only risen by 9 percent from stats first taken in July. 

Anti-vax sentiment has been on the rise across Europe during the pandemic, with platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook used to accelerate the spread of disinformation, sometimes affecting vulnerable groups such as BAME communities. As a result, tech companies have cracked down on coronavirus misinformation, banning adverts that discourage vaccine uptake.