Trust in Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine collapsing across Europe, poll reveals

More than half of people in France, Germany and Spain believe jab is unsafe

Boris Johnson poses with a vial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
Boris Johnson poses with a vial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
(Image credit: Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Confidence in the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has plummeted across Europe after a host of European governments suspended its use, a survey has found.

Polling by YouGov found that more than half of respondents in France, Germany and Spain now believe the vaccine to be unsafe – even after all three nations later reversed their decision to stop using the UK-developed vaccine.

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In the UK, 77% of people said the Oxford vaccine is safe, though confidence has fallen by four points since February.

The survey of more than 8,000 people was conducted between 15 and 18 March, before EU nations resumed the use of the Oxford jab, with YouGov’s lead data journalist, Matt Smith, saying: “The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has undoubtedly suffered damage to its reputation for safety on the continent”, Politico reports.

“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.”

The poll comes as a leading member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine team accused the EU of overseeing a “hopeless” vaccine campaign. John Bell, Oxford University’s regius professor of medicine, told The Telegraph that the EU has “no idea what’s going on”, adding: “They’re hopeless. Completely hopeless. It's really not going well in Europe.”

He added: “Everyone’s got to take a deep breath and realise that we’re not there yet. We’ve got to lean into the global issue much more effectively, and get people vaccinated in the developing world and try to reduce transmissions everywhere.”

Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.