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Review
. 2021 Mar;97(1145):143-149.
doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138903. Epub 2020 Oct 28.

Will vaccination refusal prolong the war on SARS-CoV-2?

Robert Marcec  1 , Matea Majta  1 , Robert Likic  2
Affiliations
Review

Will vaccination refusal prolong the war on SARS-CoV-2?

Robert Marcec et al. Postgrad Med J. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus that appeared in Wuhan, China in January 2020 and caused a global pandemic drastically changing everyday life. Currently, there are vaccine candidates in clinical trials and development, so it is only a matter of time before one is authorised for human use.

Materials and methods: We collected public opinion survey results about attitudes towards SARS-CoV-2 vaccination conducted in 2020 in 26 European countries.

Results: The pooled surveys were conducted on a total of 24 970 participants; on average only 58% (n=14 365/24 970) of responders across Europe were willing to get a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine once it becomes available, 16% (n=3998/24 970) were neutral, and 26% (n=6607/24 970) were not planning to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. Such a low vaccination response could make it exceedingly difficult to reach the herd immunity threshold for SARS-CoV-2 through vaccination.

Conclusion: It is very important to start conducting educational public health activities on the topic of vaccination as soon as possible, before a vaccine becomes available, in order to improve attitudes towards SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Only by educating the general public about the benefits, safety and efficacy of vaccines can we hope to avoid the unnecessary prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacology; Infection control; Infectious diseases; Public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of Europe showing the percentage of participants per country who are willing/planning to take a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine according to collected public opinion surveys.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Map of Europe showing the counties which would/would not reach the herd immunity threshold (67%) through vaccination according to the collected public opinion survey results.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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