The French public's attitudes to a future COVID-19 vaccine: The politicization of a public health issue

J Ward, C. Alleaume, P Peretti-Watel (), Valerie Seror (), S Cortaredona (), O. Launay, Jocelyn Raude (), P. Verger, F. Beck, S. Legleye and Olivier L’haridon ()
Additional contact information
J Ward: GEMASS - Groupe d'Etude des Méthodes de l'Analyse Sociologique de la Sorbonne - FMSH - Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge]
C. Alleaume: VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge]
P Peretti-Watel: VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge]
S Cortaredona: VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge]
O. Launay: CIC 1417 - CIC Cochin Pasteur - AP-HP - Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) - Hôpital Cochin [AP-HP] - AP-HP - Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) - Hôtel-Dieu - Groupe hospitalier Broca - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - UPCité - Université Paris Cité
Jocelyn Raude: EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], SHS - Département des sciences humaines et sociales - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP]
P. Verger: ORS PACA - Observatoire régional de la santé Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur [Marseille], VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge], ORS PACA
F. Beck: CESP - Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - AP-HP - Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) - Hôpital Paul Brousse - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - Université Paris-Saclay
S. Legleye: CESP - Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - AP-HP - Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) - Hôpital Paul Brousse - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - Université Paris-Saclay
Olivier L’haridon: CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: As Covid-19 spreads across the world, governments turn a hopeful eye towards research and development of a vaccine against this new disease. But it is one thing to make a vaccine available, and it is quite another to convince the public to take the shot, as the precedent of the 2009 H1N1 influenza illustrated. In this paper, we present the results of four online surveys conducted in April 2020 in representative samples of the French population 18 years of age and over (N = 5018). These surveys were conducted during a period when the French population was on lockdown and the daily number of deaths attributed to the virus reached its peak. We found that if a vaccine against the new coronavirus became available, almost a quarter of respondents would not use it. We also found that attitudes to this vaccine were correlated significantly with political partisanship and engagement with the political system. Attitudes towards this future vaccine did not follow the traditional mapping of political attitudes along a Left-Right axis. The rift seems to be between people who feel close to governing parties (Centre, Left and Right) on the one hand, and, on the other, people who feel close to Far-Left and Far-Right parties as well as people who do not feel close to any party. We draw on the French sociological literature on ordinary attitudes to politics to discuss our results as well as the cultural pathways via which political beliefs can affect perceptions of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords: Coronavirus; COVID-19; France; Hesitancy; Ideology; Partisanship; Politics; Vaccination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03004549v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Published in Social Science and Medicine, 2020, 265, pp.113414. ⟨10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113414⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03004549

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113414

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