In the past few months, France’s relationship to vaccines has come under unexpected scrutiny. First, a flurry of surveys and opinion polls seemed to show that the French were deeply suspicious about the possibility of taking any of the new vaccines against COVID-19. International media reported with horror that the land of Louis Pasteur—who first explained the science of vaccination in the late 19th century—was apparently filled with people who did not trust their own state to administer a safe vaccine.

Second, and seemingly related to the first, France began to fall behind dramatically in the race to vaccinate its population. The latest figures, released on Jan. 30, showed that only 2.34 percent of French people had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 3.16 percent in Italy, 8.94 percent in the United States, and 13.95 percent in the United Kingdom.

Finally, the French medical research and pharmaceutical sector has had to admit to serious difficulties with its own attempts to produce a vaccine. In early December 2020, Sanofi and GSK announced that their vaccine had not passed initial clinical trials and would need to be redeveloped; and, on Jan. 25, the Institut Pasteur and Merck abandoned their vaccine candidate altogether.

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