Spain to keep register of vaccine refusal

THE Spanish government will keep a list of people refusing a Covid-19 vaccine – the shots are voluntary, but the government strategy includes reasons for turning immunisation down.

The register will not be made public but will be shared with other European Union countries as part of the overall EU vaccination plan.

With the first phase of the programme underway using the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, Spain plans to have half the 47 million population immunised by the summer. This week pandemic deaths topped 50,000 and it is believed around 1.9 people have been infected.

A recent survey showed 28% of Spaniards were unwilling to have a Covid-19 jab – down from 47% in November – the poll revealed 40.5% would have a shot, while 16.2% would agree to vaccination if the treatment is ‘reliable’.

Health minister Salvador Illa said the register of people turning down the vaccination would be shared with fellow EU countries ‘as is done with other treatments’ but neither employers nor members of the public would have access to the figures.

And he said: “It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection.

“The way to defeat the virus is to vaccinate all of us, or the more the better.”

He added the register of people turning down the injection ‘for whatever reason, in a use of their legitimate freedom’ would be used to investigate reasons why it was refused.

The minister added: “It is important to record cases of vaccine refusal in the registry with the purpose of knowing the possible reason for the reluctance of different population groups.”

Written by BayRadio