Less than half of the French population say they want to take the coronavirus vaccine, a new poll has found as Covid-19 deaths soar across Europe.
Just 40 per cent of people in France want to have the vaccination, according to the poll by Ipsos Global Advisor in partnership with the World Economic Forum, which came out on Tuesday.
That puts France behind other countries like Russia on 43 per cent and South Africa on 53 per cent and far from nations where eagerness to take the vaccine is high such as China on 80 per cent and the UK on 77 per cent.
Fear of potential side effects is the reason most often given for not wanting the vaccine, according to the poll. In the United States, where a mass vaccination campaign has now begun in earnest, 69 percent of people now want the vaccine, a rise on October's figures.
The poll came amid soaring coronavirus death tolls across Europe with Germany seeing a new high of 1,122 daily fatalities on Wednesday and Sweden confirming a record 205 deaths and 32,000 cases in 24 hours a day earlier.
Amid rising deaths in Germany, Health Minister Jens Spahn today warned of fresh lockdown measures in the New Year, adding: 'I don't see how, in this situation, we can return to how things were before the lockdown.'