2/3 of Bulgarians Unlikely to Vaccinate, Western Europeans More Willing to Get Jab than Citizens of Eastern EU Countries

Society » HEALTH | May 14, 2021, Friday // 11:54
Bulgaria: 2/3 of Bulgarians Unlikely to Vaccinate, Western Europeans More Willing to Get Jab than Citizens of Eastern EU Countries

More than a quarter (27%) of adult citizens of the European Union are unlikely to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if offered.

in Bulgaria this percentage reaches a record 67% revealed a study of Eurofound from February-March 2021, released recently.

 It points to the strong link between vaccination refusal and the use of social networks on the Internet, especially when they are the main source of information.

"Life, Work and COVID-19" was launched in April last year and the answers to the same questions are periodically undated, with the latest data reflecting the mood after a year of pandemic in Europe.

 "Unfortunately, what has been found reflects the failure of clear and convincing messages about the effectiveness and safety of vaccines," explains Daphne Arendt, senior research manager at Eurofound.

In Bulgaria, the Ministry of Health in the last government of Boyko Borissov never conducted such a pro-vaccination campaign, although former Health Minister Angelov spoke about prepared videos and messages in support of vaccination.

It is possible with the recent increase in the supply of vaccines - mainly the RNA types of "Pfizer" and "Moderna" - the number of Bulgarians who say that they will not receive a shot or are very unlikely to get a vaccine has decreased.

But the results are by far from the other end of the study for EU - in Ireland two months ago, only 10% were unwilling to be injected with Covid-19 vaccine.

The study also outlines a clear division between East and West in Europe. With the exception of France and Austria, more than 60% of all Western member states want to be vaccinated. In the Scandinavian and Mediterranean countries, Denmark and Ireland, this figure is even higher. For comparison - in Bulgaria in this group are 33%.

The authors point out as an illustration of the main influence of information and misinformation on social networks how much time respondents spend in them. Up to 40% of those who do not want to be vaccinated say that they are informed about the vaccines and the pandemic mainly from these networks and spend at least 3 hours a day in them.

Skeptics among the next traditional media - television, radio stations, newspapers, news sites - are only 18%.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Health » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Bulgaria, vaccine

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria