A global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed the scale of the crisis of confidence in vaccines in Europe, showing that only 59% of people in western Europe and 50% in the east think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide. Dr Heidi Larson, the director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said social media was amplifying anxieties. While confidence in vaccines in the UK was higher than in some other parts of Europe, “where the UK is now I would say is vulnerable,” she said. “There are increasingly populations and entire countries around the world where confidence in vaccines is dropping and uptake is dropping. Bangladesh and Rwanda have the highest confidence in vaccines in the world, the Global Monitor shows.

Source: The Guardian June 19, 2019 03:56 UTC