In last week’s Trends Journal, it was reported that Americans are becoming less confident in the safety of a future COVID vaccine, citing the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showing “only 20 percent of registered voters said they would be willing to take a vaccine once it hits the market.”
This is part of a larger, long-term trend of Americans becoming more suspicious of all vaccinations. On 26 October 2018, the British Medical Journal reported, “The percentage of American children aged under two who have had no vaccinations has quadrupled since 2001, according to new data released in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
As for the flu vaccine, on 5 December 2018, NORC, the non-partisan and objective research organization at the University of Chicago, released data showing over 40 percent of Americans will not get the flu vaccination despite 80,000 deaths from the flu the previous year.
The NORC report showed that among adults who have children under age 18 living in their home, 39 percent said they do not vaccinate their children.
In the report, “When asked why they do not intend to be vaccinated, adults were most likely to cite concerns about side effects from the vaccine (36 percent). Roughly 3 in 10 adults cited concerns about getting sick from the vaccine (31 percent). Three in 10 adults said a major reason they do not get vaccinated is because they never get the flu or they do not think the flu vaccine works (31 percent).”
A Pew Research Center survey from September showed, “The share of Americans who say they would get vaccinated for the coronavirus has declined sharply since earlier this year. About half of U.S. adults (51 percent) now say they would definitely or probably get a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 if it were available today; nearly as many (49 percent) say they definitely or probably would not get vaccinated at this time. Intent to get a COVID-19 vaccine has fallen from 72 percent in May, a 21-percentage point drop.”
In response to Pew’s findings, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Presstitute’s “top U.S. infectious disease expert,” stated, “It’s disturbing that so many people are reticent to get a vaccine… Americans should feel confident in the development and efficacy of a vaccine.”
Shoot Me Up
As for the flu vaccine, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer promoted its importance by taking off her blazer at a 25 August press conference, rolling up her sleeve and having a doctor inject her in front of the media. Warning about the “Twindemic” of the upcoming flu season with the ongoing spread of COVID, Governor Whitmer stated, “When we all get our flu vaccine, we can help keep thousands of flu patients out of the hospitals and prevent overcrowding.”
Despite the governor’s efforts, on 28 September, the Detroit Free Press reported, “Among the 32 percent of parents who said their child was unlikely to get a flu vaccine this year, the most common reasons include concerns about side effects or beliefs that it isn’t necessary or effective.”
Europe: Vaccination Vacation
This past April, Sally Robertson, a journalist for News Medical, wrote about declining trust in vaccinations by many Europeans, particularly among parents when it comes to having their children vaccinated.
Citing data from the Wellcome Global Monitor survey taken in 2018, she writes, “One in three people in France thought that vaccines are unsafe. Only half of the people living in Ukraine trusted vaccination… In the UK, the proportion of children receiving both MMR jabs [the vaccine against mumps, measles and rubella] by the age of five had dropped for the fourth year in a row.”
The 2019 report by the European Commission, “Europeans’ Attitude Towards Vaccinations” showed that only around 50 percent of Europeans surveyed said the injections were “definitely effective.” This led the Guardian to publish a 19 June 2019 article titled, “Survey Shows Crisis of Confidence in Vaccines in Parts of Europe.”
The Wellcome Global Monitor reported in June 2019 that in Eastern Europe, confidence in vaccinations was down to 40 percent.
The highest percentage of pro-vaccine nations were in low-income countries, with some 98 percent of the people from Bangladesh and Rwanda saying inoculations are safe and effective. Rwandans also trusted their healthcare system more than any other nation, with 97 percent giving a positive response compared to the global average of 76 percent.
TREND FORECAST: Governments, institutions, and businesses across the globe will institute “Must Get COVID Vaccinated” mandates. In response, as we have forecast, “anti-vax/anti-tax/anti-immigration” will be major platforms in newly-forming, anti-establishment populist parties.
