Is it counterproductive to make vaccines mandatory?

While Western European countries have some of the highest vaccination rates in the world, they are still pushing to convince the last of the people to resist.

For some European capitals, it is the carrot of vaccine passes; for others, it’s the stick of making jabs mandatory.

Austria, for example, has ordered vaccination since February 1, regardless of age or professional activity. Greece and Italy have mandated that people over the age of 60 and 50, respectively, must be vaccinated or face fines.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday backed mandatory vaccination in the country, which lawmakers are expected to discuss later this month. Currently, the country has placed restrictions on the unvaccinated, and proof of vaccination or COVID recovery is required to enter bars, restaurants, and most cultural and entertainment venues. France, which already has a valid health pass, it is expected to change it along the lines of Germany later this month.

But behavioral scientists are wary of the impact such measures could have.

“I think if you make those regulations too strict, then the real anti-vaccine people, who are a minority, will become more resistant,” Julia van Weert, a professor at the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, told Euronews.

“And I think this is the long-term danger,” he added. “It’s going to divide society and also in the long run, on other issues, there may be bigger fights and more polarization.”

‘Angry’ unvaccinated people

The upcoming change in legislation in France, where around 91% of adults are fully vaccinated, as are 79% of children aged 12 to 17, has caused people to take to the streets.

More than 105,000 people marched across the country on Sunday against the “vaccination pass,” four times more than on December 18.

President Emmanuel Macron may have encouraged them. He said earlier this month that “the unvaccinated, I really want to piss you off.”

But that kind of language could backfire, experts say.

Professor Martyn Pickersgill, Professor of Sociology of Science and Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, told Euronews that he is “concerned that Macron’s comment runs the risk of reinforcing mistrust and disengagement from health measures. rather than motivating people to commit to vaccination. “

However, Macron could claim that the French government’s strategy has been successful so far. It pushed people to get vaccinated by making it mandatory for health professionals to receive the vaccine and launched its COVID health pass, which certifies that its holder had been fully vaccinated, had previously recovered from the disease, or recently tested negative. It’s a strategy Paris credits with the health care system’s ability to withstand a recent unprecedented surge in infections.

Do we trust the vaccine information?

COVID passes have been widely considered to be successful in getting people vaccinated. Published a study of its impact in Denmark, Israel, Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland by The Lancet medical journal in December it found that they led to an increase in vaccines 20 days before anticipated implementation, with a lasting effect up to 40 days later.

Yet despite the restrictions in people’s daily lives, some still choose to forgo vaccines.

According to a EU barometer published in May 2021, the main reasons not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are the belief that vaccines have not yet been sufficiently tested and concerns about side effects.

The survey, which surveyed more than 26,000 people over the age of 15 in the bloc’s 27 member states, also found that the sources most trusted by EU citizens for reliable information on COVID-19 vaccines are health professionals and national health authorities (61% and 44% respectively).

The EU and national governments ranked a distant third with 20% and 19% respectively, ahead of regional and local authorities and the media (14% and 11%).

“Trust, open communication and partnerships are essential characteristics of all public health campaigns. Importantly, trust cannot be simply demanded: rather, the trustworthiness of politicians who make public health policies must be clearly demonstrated. Pickersgill emphasized.

“The benefits and risks of vaccination must be communicated clearly and openly, otherwise it is understandable that people feel that information is being withheld from them, which fuels mistrust,” he added.

Not all those not vaccinated are anti-vaccines

Meanwhile, Van Weert cautioned against the generalization of minorities in Western Europe who have not yet received the vaccine as anti-vaccines, saying that instead they are “a heterogeneous group of people” comprising communities where misinformation spreads more rapidly. . They can be people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, students and immigrants, but also people who have concerns due to their own medical history and need to have their concerns addressed specifically.

“I think governments should first make every effort to reach those people before they come up with (other) restrictions,” he said, calling for more “tailored strategies” that involve important stakeholders or key figures in the communities.

“It is better if they are contacted, for example, by people who are independent of governments and doctors can play an important role here,” he said, as can religious figures, including imams and priests.

He noted, for example, the success of a “question hotline” in the Netherlands have unvaccinated people call to discuss their concerns with medical professionals. The service receives an average of 1,000 calls a day.

Will mandatory vaccination work?

For Van Weert, the impact of making vaccines mandatory in Western Europe is likely to be limited.

“What I know from research is that the added value of making it mandatory is higher when vaccination rates are lower,” he said.

They are also highly unlikely to influence those who are ideologically opposed to the vaccine, he added.

“Anti-vaccine people are so convinced that they won’t be swayed by anything. I think it’s better if you just leave those people alone for a while and don’t pay so much attention to them all the time. The more stigmatized, the less willing they will be to receive. the vaccine at the end, “he concluded.

Pickersgill was also cautious about their impact, telling Euronews that “it is possible that the mandates ‘work’ solely in the sense that they could force some people concerned about the effects of vaccines to accept a vaccination offer.”

“However, this could come at the expense of fueling public distrust and providing a focal point for resentments that could undermine the broader public health response,” he argued.

More than 69% of the EU / EEA population is now fully protected against the risk of serious diseases, but there are large disparities between the 31 countries in the region.

Denmark and Portugal have fully immunized more than 82% of their population, while Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain have rates between 70 and 78%. Eastern countries, however, have not been as successful. Bulgaria has yet to fully vaccinate a third of its population, while the rates in Romania and Slovakia are below 50%.

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