PARIS (FRANCE) – Opinion polls and data from government vaccination programmes across the European Union, indicate a widespread scepticism about the AstraZeneca vaccine among people because of cases of people who took the shot experiencing blood clots.
In response to the blood-clotting cases, Denmark stopped administering the shot, and several other EU states including France are limiting it to older people.
The EU’s medicines watchdog says the benefits of taking the shot far outweigh any risks, and most EU governments encourage their citizens to take it if offered. France is also administering vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna.
“There is definitely a reluctance with regards to AstraZeneca,” Martin, a person entitled to persuade people to take AstraZeneca shot said in a break from handing out vaccination leaflets at the market, in the north-eastern corner of Paris. “but there’s not much we can do with people’s anxiety at this point,” he said adding that the reassurances are going in vain.