Rise of European populism linked to vaccine hesitancy

MMR vaccination rates in the U.K. fell from 92 per cent in 1995 to a low of 79 per cent in 2003, well below the 95 per cent rate needed to achieve herd immunity. Confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales rose from 56 in 1998 to 1370 in 2008.

Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register and the Lancet study retracted. Nevertheless, his ideas remain influential and are cited as a reason why measles cases have increased in Europe over the past few years.

Examples from European populist parties
There is additional anecdotal evidence suggesting a connection between the rise of populist politicians and political movements in Western Europe and increasing levels of vaccine hesitancy, Kennedy writes.

The most prominent example is Italy. The Five Star Movement (5SM) have raised concerns about vaccine safety and the link between MMR and autism. It is argued that these concerns caused MMR vaccination coverage to fall from 90 per cent in 2013 to 85 per cent in 2016, and resulted in an increase in measles cases from 840 in 2016 to 5000 in 2017. Despite this, the upper house of the Italian Parliament—bolstered by newly elected representatives from 5SM and League—recently passed a law to repeal legislation that makes vaccines compulsory for children enrolling in state schools.

In France, the right-wing Front National have also raised concerns about vaccine safety and laws that make childhood vaccinations mandatory.

And in Greece, the left-wing SYRIZA government proposed that parents should be able to opt out of vaccinating their children.

While UKIP has not expressed similar concerns, a poll conducted by Mori showed UKIP voters were almost five times more likely than the general population to believe that MMR was unsafe.

The United States, Donald Trump, and Andrew Wakefield
Further afield in the United States, Donald Trump has met well-known anti-vaccination campaigners, including Wakefield, and expressed sympathy with their ideas. For example, in 2014 he tweeted: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes—AUTISM. Many such cases!”

Dr. Kennedy adds: “Vaccine hesitancy will be difficult to resolve unless its underlying causes of populism—an iniquitous economic system and unrepresentative political system—are addressed.”

— Read more in Jonathan Kennedy, “Populist politics and vaccine hesitancy in Western Europe: an analysis of national-level data,” European Journal of Public Health (25 February 2019) (doi: .org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz004)