Spain is in the process of setting up a registry of people who refuse to receive a COVID-19 vaccine – and will share it with its European neighbors.
Health Minister Salvador Illa made the announcement Monday, even as he insisted that vaccination – which was rolled out there over the weekend – is not mandatory, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
“What will be done is a register that will be shared with our European partners … of the people who got it and simply rejected it,” Illa told La Sexta Television, the agency said.
“It is not a document that will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection,” he stressed.
Its main purpose was to help track those vaccinated against COVID-19 cases, and find out why people aren’t getting the shot, a source told The Guardian.
The initiative could also help Spain regain confidence in its tourism industry, which was linked to the earlier spread of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News said.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Spain is one of Europe’s most affected countries by the pandemic, with nearly 1.9 million confirmed cases and more than 50,000 deaths on Tuesday.