Spain will start keeping a record of those who refuse a coronavirus vaccine and will share that information with other European Union nations, the country’s health minister said on Monday.
The register will not be released, Health Minister Salvador Illa told La Sexta television, and employers will not have access to it. According to him, the registration is to ensure that there was no error in the system and that the person had the opportunity to be vaccinated.
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“The way to defeat the virus is to vaccinate all of us or the more the better,” said Illa, emphasizing that the vaccine will not be mandatory.
The number of Spaniards who said they would not get the COVID-19 vaccine fell to 28% in December, from 47% last month, Agence France-Presse reported.
The first shipments of vaccines against the coronavirus developed by BioNTech and Pfizer arrived in the European Union over the weekend, and the authorities began to vaccinate the most vulnerable populations. (AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti)
Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the virus, began distributing the vaccine on Sunday.
Two women, a resident of a 96-year-old nursing home and a 48-year-old worker at the facility, were the first Spanish women to receive the vaccines.
Illa’s comments occur when Spain exceeds the 50,000 deaths officially attributed to COVID-19.
The Spanish health ministry said on Monday that the number of victims had reached 50,122. Spain recorded almost 1.88 million cases among its population of 47 million.
To slow the spread of the virus, Spain remains under national restrictions.
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The curfew between 11 pm and 6 am will remain in effect until at least May, and restrictions on movement between some regions were imposed during the holiday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.