48 percent of Europeans believe false claims on vaccines: poll

While most people agree vaccines are important, a relative majority incorrectly believe they often cause serious side effects.

Nearly half the people in Europe believe — incorrectly — that vaccines often cause severe side effects, according to an EU-wide poll released on Friday.

The Eurobarometer survey found 88 percent of people agree vaccines are important to protect themselves and others. But a relative majority said vaccines are often linked to serious adverse reactions — a statement disproved by scientific evidence.

In total, 48 percent of people surveyed agreed with the false statement, compared with 41 percent of people who said they don’t. In 16 countries that figure was at least 50 percent, including in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Romania.

Over a third of the 27,524 people polled said vaccines can cause the disease against which they protect, which is also incorrect. (Some vaccines like the flu shot are linked to mild symptoms that resemble the infectious virus.)

The results illustrate the scale of the challenge to ensure Europeans have correct information on vaccines as infectious diseases such as measles make a resurgence across the Continent.

“The vaccination coverage is decreasing and diseases are increasing and this is a risk for public health and security,” European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said in a press briefing. The Commission warned in October that Europe is the region with the lowest level of vaccine confidence in the world.

More than 12,000 cases of measles were reported in the European Economic Area and 35 people died last year, Katainen said, yet fewer than 40 percent of people surveyed were aware that measles is still a cause of death in the EU.

Countries such as Italy and France have increased the number of compulsory shots in recent years, while others such as Germany are debating whether to make measles jabs mandatory.

While vaccines may cause some mild side effects, such as a fever or local swelling at the jab site, “more severe reactions are very rare,” according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Experts say the potential for fatalities or long-lasting health effects from vaccine-preventable diseases greatly outweigh the risks.

Yet a relative majority of people in five countries — Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Malta — still believe that vaccines can cause the disease against which they protect, according to the new poll.

The survey showed people do not doubt the effectiveness of vaccines: 85 percent agreed that vaccines can be effective in preventing infectious diseases.

But more than a third of people that have not received a shot in the past five years said that was because they “did not see the need to be vaccinated.” For some vaccinations, such as tetanus and diphtheria, adults are recommended to get booster shots every 10 years.

While the majority of Europeans approach their doctors for information on vaccines, around 20 percent said they consult internet sites and social media, according to the survey, which health experts have warned are fueling rising levels of mistrust.

People from Latvia and Lithuania listed the price of vaccines as one of the main reasons they hadn’t received any vaccination in the last five years.

The poll comes exactly one year after the Commission’s communication on the need for greater cooperation on vaccine preventable diseases. But it also underlined the problem facing the EU in convincing people that policies on vaccines should be made jointly. Thirty-eight percent of those polled said vaccination programs should be coordinated at the national level, while 29 percent supported EU-level coordination and 36 percent backed international coordination.

“We simply don’t have a competence. It would need a treaty change. Even if we wanted, we don’t have a power to act and that’s why we are promoting voluntary cooperation,” Katainen said, noting a recent Commission-led agreement between certain countries for joint procurement of the pandemic flu vaccine.

National health ministers in December promised to “examine the feasibility” of aligning vaccination schedules among EU countries by 2020.