The results of the latest Standard Eurobarometer survey, published on 23 April, place Luxembourg in the middle of the European opinion landscape with 52% of Luxembourg respondents having been vaccinated or wanting to get a shot as soon as possible, compared to 74% of respondents in Ireland, the most vaccine-ready country. Denmark had the second-highest vaccine readiness rate at 73%, followed by Sweden with 71%.

The response sheds light on vaccine hesitancy at a time when the EU is pinning its hopes of economic recovery on achieving herd immunity. Experts suggests this can be achieved by vaccinating 60-90% of the adult population. So far, the EU has secured 2.6bn doses from different manufacturers. At the time of writing, 123m doses had been administered, of which 176,432 were in Luxembourg.

The hesitancy is likely linked with the timing of the survey, between February and March 2021, when questions were raised regarding a very rare type of blood clot associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. A possible link has since been confirmed by the European Medicines Agency, which says the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks of side effects. The agency also recently confirmed the benefit over risk of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been linked to rare cases of blood clots.

Low satisfaction with EU handling

Luxembourg respondents, meanwhile, showed the second-lowest levels of satisfaction with the EU’s response to the pandemic, with 63% of respondents not satisfied. Trust remained low in the EU’s ability to make good decisions in future in relation to the pandemic. Just 52% of respondents in Luxembourg had total trust, while 48% had no trust.

The majority of Luxembourg respondents expected that Luxembourg’s economy would recover from the pandemic’s impact in 2023 or later, above the EU average of 61%, while 23% expected a recovery in 2022.