→Richcountrieshavemoretrustinscienceanddoctors,butlessinvaccinesSources:WellcomeTrust;WorldBank;YouGov/TheEconomist
*Atpurchasing-powerparityTrustv GDPperperson*,2018,bycountry UnitedStates,%responding“yes”
Bypoliticalalignment,July-August 20201 10 100
GDPperperson*,$’000,logscaleGDPperperson*,$’000,logscaleGDPperperson*,$’000,logscale%whotrustscience%whobelievevaccinesaresafe2550751002550751001 10 100%whotrustdoctors
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available,willyougetvaccinated?”“Ingeneral,doyouthinkvaccinesgivento
childrenfordiseaseslikemeaslesaresafe?”0 25 50 75 100“Doyouthinkparentsshouldberequired
tohavetheirchildrenvaccinated?”0 25 50 75 100“Ifandwhena coronavirusvaccineisavailable,will
yougetyourschool-agedchildrenvaccinated?”0 25 50 75 100“Doyoubelieveit wouldbesafeforthecountry
tofullyreopen,beforea vaccinebecameavailable?”0525 075100SomecollegeNocollegeByeducationlevelByage25 50 75 10061+41-6018-404+yearscollege255075100115 050 100India EgyptSouth
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FranceJapanEthiopiaRussiaUkraineAustriaBelarusBurundi
KuwaitSingaporeSwitzerlandUnited
StatesBritainSpainIranChinaAustraliaMexicoNorwayHaitiTogoRepublican DemocratTheEconomistAugust 29th 2020 73D
o vaccines causeautism? Are politi-
cians scaremongering about covid-19
to drum up profits for drug firms? Will Bill
Gates use injections to implant microchips
in your children?
The answer to all three questions is no,
though scientists once debated the first. In
1998 the Lancet, a medical journal, pub-
lished a study showing a link between jabs
and developmental disorders. However, it
was retracted after an investigation found
that Andrew Wakefield, the lead author,
had been paid by people suing vaccine pro-
ducers. The British doctor was struck off,
and large trials did not replicate his results.
Nonetheless, Mr Wakefield’s hoax
transformed “anti-vaxx” sentiment into a
mainstream belief. The Centre for Counter-
ing Digital Hate, an ngo, reckons 58m peo-
ple follow English-language social-mediaaccounts spreading such misinforma-
tion—including conspiracy theories about
covid-19, big pharma and Mr Gates.
Polls from 2018 by the Wellcome Trust, a
charity, show this idea is most contagious
in rich countries, where barely 70% of resi-
dents think vaccines are safe. Confidence
fell in France and Japan after people turned
against government schemes for swine flu
and papillomavirus. Trust is also low in
former Soviet states, where jabs were man-
datory and health advice was unreliable. By
contrast, 85% of west Africans and 95% of
South Asians think vaccines are safe.
This is not because people in rich coun-
tries have given up on medical research. In
fact, they express more trust in doctors and
science than people in poor countries. Sad-
ly, many have mistaken Mr Wakefield and
his cronies for credible experts. People in
developing countries have heard less of
such tosh, and witnessed more of the harm
caused by deadly but preventable diseases.
The West’s distrust of vaccines has al-
ready been costly. Measles was almost
wiped out there after mass inoculation be-
gan in the 1960s, but has returned. In 2019
the World Health Organisation revoked the
“measles-free” statuses of Albania, Britain,the Czech Republic and Greece. America re-
ported its most cases since 1992.
As covid-19 has spread, YouGov, a poll-
ster, has asked Americans about vaccines.
Despite Mr Wakefield’s anti-vaxx propa-
ganda—he now lives in the United
States—at least 85% of both Republicans
and Democrats think measles jabs are safe
for children. But the partisan gap widens
for mandatory injections, and is wider still
for covid-19 shots. Only 37% of Republicans
say they would get vaccinated against the
virus, compared with 61% of Democrats.
The figure is barely 30% for middle-aged
and less-educated people on the right.
Even after adjusting for such factors, we
find that Republicans are less supportive
than Democrats of the same background.
This is bad news for governments hop-
ing to banish covid-19. Wellcome’s polls
show that many countries trust vaccines
less than America does. The share of their
residents willing to take a covid-19 jab may
be below 50%. Whether that would provide
herd immunity is unclear, since most esti-
mates of the threshold range from 40-70%.
Regardless, the polls show that convincing
people to take vaccines may be as difficult
as producing them in the first place. 7In rich countries, misconceptions
about jabs may prevent herd immunityA first-world
problem
Graphic detailVaccination