According to a new study published by the European Commission, general public appears to be losing confidence in vaccines which has resulted in immunisation rates dropping significantly and more dormant disease outbreaks.
Moreover, Greece is still among the EU countries with the lowest trust in vaccines, Kathimerini reports even though vaccination rates have increased since 2015.
“The European region has lower confidence in the safety of vaccines than other regions in the world,” EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis said on Wednesday 24 October, which is also World Polio Day.
“Seven out of the 10 countries with the lowest vaccine confidence in the world are in Europe,” he added, stressing that seeing France, Greece, Italy, and Slovenia on the list was unpleasant surprise.
Even though Greece’s percentages are still low, at least more people immunise their children, whereas in the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and even Sweden the levels of mistrust are on the up.
Finally, the report urged governments to boost awareness harder as recent outbreaks of measles and glandular diseases are proof of the negative impact abstaining from vaccination has.