Objective To assess whether mistrust in the government and scientists reinforces social and racial inequalities in vaccination practises. Results In all, The population of unvaccinated people was younger, less educated, had lower incomes, and more often belonged to racialised minorities, as compared to vaccinated people. Mistrust was more prevalent among the poorer which consequently reinforced social inequalities in vaccination. Conclusion There is a need to develop depoliticised outreach programmes targeted at the most socially disadvantaged groups, and to design vaccination strategies conceived with people from different social and racial backgrounds to enable them to make fully informed choices.
Many authors have emphasised the fact that Covid vaccination is effective in combating the spread of the epidemic, as well as in reducing social inequalities in morbidity and mortality, provided that access to the Covid vaccines is free and easy. Recent studies in the UK, in the US and in Norway [ 5 β 10 ] have shown that the most socially disadvantaged and racialised social groups are the least vaccinated.
In light of their high risk of infection and mortality from Covid [ 1 ], it appears all the more important to understand why they are less likely to be reached by Covid vaccine programmes. Social barriers hampering access to preventive practices, such as social distance from health professionals, geographical distance from health centres, or experiences of discrimination in the health system [ 11 , 12 ] need to be taken into account to study this particular preventive practice, vaccination.
But in a context where governments have taken the lead in managing the pandemic crisis, it is all the more important to analyse vaccination practices accompanied by consideration of the trust that people place in the government. Many studies have shown the implications of political mistrust in Covid vaccination intentions [ 13 , 14 ], but only a few have analysed its implications in vaccination practises. These studies were conducted in the US and showed that in counties with a high percentage of Republican voters, vaccination rates were significantly lower [ 15 , 16 ].
However, they were conducted at county or state level, and did not account for individual social characteristics. Furthermore, focusing on votes excludes people who are over-represented in the lower socio-economic groups [ 17 β 19 ], who have no political opinion or refuse to express themselves through voting. In any case, there is a need to clarify whether, and to what extent, mistrust in the government has an impact on vaccination practises. In France as in many countries, the government strongly relied on scientists to justify its epidemic response actions.
