Faith in the benefits of vaccines drops across the globe
Faith in vaccines drops but there is rising belief that science has the answers to our health problems according to new Ipsos Global Trends data.
New polling from Ipsos finds a drop in the number of people globally that believe all recommended vaccines are beneficial to them and their families. Three quarters (75%) of Britons agree recommended vaccines are beneficial compared to 83% in 2019. In Italy and the US there is an even bigger downturn, with Italy down 12 percentage points to 65% and the US down 17 percentage points to 63% agreement. France continues to have low levels of support for vaccines, now down to 54% from 63% last year.
Brazil and China remain stable, with 80% of Brazilians agreeing in the benefits of vaccines (unchanged from 2019) and 56% of Chinese agreeing, up just 2 percentage points.
Despite growing scepticism of vaccines, people remain positive about the impact science will have on our lives. There has been an increase in people that think eventually all medical conditions and diseases will be curable, across all seven countries surveyed.
Ben Page, CEO Ipsos, said:
Our latest Global Trends findings illustrate how the rush to produce a vaccine, and debate about its potential effectiveness, seems to have increased vaccine hesitancy around the world over the last year, but especially in the United States. This growing unease about the benefits of vaccines will undoubtedly be a challenge for governments around the world as they work to get the pandemic under control. Despite this, we should all take hope from the great news that a potential vaccine is on its way in 2021, for those of us that need and want it.
Technical note:
- The survey for Ipsos Global Trends: Beyond the Pandemic was carried out online using the Ipsos online panel in seven countries – Great Britain, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and China.
- In each country a representative sample of online adults aged 16-75 (18-75 in the US) participated in the survey. Exact sample sizes are as follows: Great Britain 1,080; USA 1,088; France 1,084; Germany 1,087; Italy 1,105; Brazil 1,000; and China 1,000. Data are weighted to match the profile of each population. Fieldwork was conducted in September 2020.
- Previous waves of data for 2019, 2016 and 2013 are from the Ipsos Global Trends survey series, which also used the Ipsos online panel system. More detail on the series can be found on the Ipsos Global Trends website.
