Fewer than half of French citizens trust that their government will be up to the task when it comes to coronavirus vaccinations, but more have faith in the EU, a survey has found.
In a Harris Interactive/Euros Agency poll, obtained exclusively by POLITICO, just 45 percent of respondents said they trusted the French state to handle vaccination while 52 percent said they trusted the EU on that matter.
The French government has been under fire for the sluggish start of its vaccination campaign, with the country still lagging behind most EU countries.
Respondents had much higher trust in health professionals, with 80 percent saying they trusted them to handle vaccination matters. Respondents overall also had a relatively high level of trust in local authorities, at 69 percent, and in the World Health Organization, at 63 percent. Pharma companies also fared better than the government, at 50 percent.
Asked whether they had concerns about the vaccination campaign, 77 percent of respondents said yes, with little variation between different age groups or political leanings.
The level of trust in institutions, however, varied greatly depending on political leaning. Respondents favoring Macron’s La République en Marche party and other mainstream parties expressed a much higher level of trust compared to far-left and far-right voters. Only 19 percent of voters leaning toward the far right said they trusted the government to handle the vaccination campaign.
The online poll was conducted between January 26 and 28 with a representative sample of 1,017 respondents.
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