Spain’s health minister said, Monday, that Spain intends to collect and share information with other European Union countries about residents who have decided not to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The Spanish Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, stressed that vaccination will not be compulsory, but said that a registry will be created that includes all people who have rejected the vaccine after being called in for vaccination by the Spanish Public Health Service.
“The refusal to be vaccinated will be kept on a record,” said Mr. Ella in an interview with Spanish television channel La Sexta. “This is not a public document and will be implemented with the highest respect for data privacy.”
Mr. Ella said that the vaccination was voluntary, but “we all see the best form of defeating the virus is vaccination, and the better.” He added that vaccination should be considered “an act of solidarity towards our loved ones and our nationality.”
Mr Ella’s comments came a day after Spain launched its vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 2.5 million people between January and March, all of them in priority health groups, starting with the residents of nursing homes and the healthcare professionals who care for them. With them. But the vaccination plan also became political football. On Monday, Jose Luis Martinez Almeida, mayor of Madrid and spokesperson for the main opposition Popular Party, blamed the government for “lack of information” about the vaccine, which means many people are still hesitant to get it.
In an interview with Spanish National Radio, Mr Martinez Almeida said the vaccination plan should be “an exercise in transparency, not propaganda.”
