European trust in AstraZeneca vaccine falls, opinion poll says

Updated: 2021-03-22 10:03

BRUSSELS - Fewer Europeans trust the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after several countries reported side-effects, such as blood clots, an opinion poll by YouGov showed on Monday, even though scientific studies have found it is safe and effective.

An increased number of French, German, Italian and Spanish adults said they considered the vaccine unsafe, YouGov found, although faith in other vaccines by Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc was unaffected.

"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," lead data journalist at YouGov Matt Smith said in a statement.

Sixty-one percent of French adults surveyed said the vaccine was unsafe, a rise of 18 percentage points compared to February, YouGov said.

Just over half of German adults surveyed said they thought the vaccine was unsafe, a rise of 15 percentage points compared to February, while 43% of Italians had serious doubts, an increase of almost a third.

Spain showed a similar increase to Italy in the level of concern, YouGov said. Only in Britain was trust in the vaccine stable.

While the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has investigated reports of unusual blood disorders in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine, it said last week the benefits outweighed the risks and continues to recommend its use.

This month a series of European countries, including France, Germany and Italy halted its use after Denmark and Norway reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count.

That was the latest setback in the European Union's troubled rollout of vaccines that has been dogged by delays.

YouGov pollster surveyed 1,672 British adults, 2,024 Germans, 1,022 French, 1,016 Italians, 1050 Spaniards, 1,004 Danes, and 1,017 Swedes between March 12 and March 18 2021.

2021年3月19日，意大利都灵，一名医护人员展示了一小瓶和一盒阿斯利康冠状病毒疾病(新冠肺炎)疫苗，因为担心疫苗可能与血凝块有关，疫苗在短暂暂停使用后恢复接种。[图片/机构]布鲁塞尔YouGov周一的一项民意调查显示，在几个国家报告了血凝块等副作用后，越来越少的欧洲人信任阿斯利康新冠肺炎疫苗，尽管科学研究发现它是安全有效的。YouGov发现，越来越多的法国、德国、意大利和西班牙成年人表示，他们认为这种疫苗不安全，尽管对辉瑞公司和莫德纳公司生产的其他疫苗的信心没有受到影响。YouGov马特·史密斯首席数据记者在一份声明中表示:“过去两周，在欧洲，不仅认为阿斯利康疫苗不安全的人数大幅上升，而且阿斯利康疫苗的安全性继续被视为远低于辉瑞和莫德纳的同行。”YouGov说，61%接受调查的法国成年人表示疫苗不安全，比2月份增加了18个百分点。接受调查的德国成年人中，略超过一半的人表示他们认为疫苗不安全，比2月份增加了15个百分点，而43%的意大利人表示严重怀疑，增加了近三分之一。YouGov说，西班牙的担忧程度与意大利相似。只有在英国，人们对疫苗的信任是稳定的。虽然欧洲药品管理局(EMA)已经调查了阿斯利康疫苗接受者异常血液疾病的报告，但它上周表示，益处大于风险，并继续建议使用该疫苗。本月，包括法国、德国和意大利在内的一系列欧洲国家在丹麦和挪威报告了孤立的出血、血凝块和血小板计数低的病例后停止了使用。这是欧盟艰难推出疫苗的最新挫折，疫苗的推出一直受到延误的困扰。YouGov民意调查机构在2021年3月12日至3月18日期间对1672名英国成年人、2024名德国人、1022名法国人、1016名意大利人、1050名西班牙人、1004名丹麦人和1017名瑞典人进行了调查。