Constant messaging

Europe must improve science communication to beat vaccine hesitancy

To scientists, the need for speedy, widespread vaccination against a disease that has killed more than 600,000 people across the EU, and can cause serious long-term health problems, is likely to seem self-evident. Yet across the continent, hundreds of thousands of people are resisting calls to have Covid-19 vaccines. 

In Germany, where infections are now surging after a well-controlled first wave, tens of thousands of people are demonstrating against the vaccines every Saturday. France, a country that traditionally has a high number of so-called anti-vaxxers, has stepped up the fight against online content suggesting that Covid-19 vaccines aren’t safe, in a desperate stand against the anti-vax movement. Many other countries across the continent are struggling to get enough people into vaccination centres to fill their daily targets.