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Elderly woman vaccinated against Corona in a nursing home in Madrid
Photo: LagenciaEP PRESS / R.Rubio.POOL / imago images / Lagencia
Spanish authorities want to register those who have declined the offer to vaccinate against the novel coronavirus.
The register is not publicly available, but will be passed on to other EU countries, said the Spanish health minister Salvador Illa in an interview with the television channel La Sexta.
The authorities would proceed "with the utmost respect for data protection," assured Illa.
He emphasized again that no compulsory vaccination would be introduced in the southern European country.
Willingness to vaccinate increased in Spain
As reported by the AFP news agency, citing a study by the state polling institute Center for Sociological Studies published last Monday, the proportion of those who refused to vaccinate in Spain has recently dropped significantly: 28 percent of those surveyed in December would refuse a corona vaccination.
In the previous month this share was 47 percent.
At the same time, the vaccination readiness of the Spaniards rose from almost 37 to more than 40 percent.
As in other European countries, the vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus began in Spain on Sunday.
The Spanish government wants to have 2.5 million people vaccinated by the end of February.
Spain is one of the European countries hardest hit by the pandemic.
On Monday, the number of victims in the EU country exceeded 50,000 deaths.
The number of corona deaths has risen by 298 to 50,122 since the last balance published on Thursday, said the Ministry of Health.
Almost 1.9 million infections have been detected across the country since the pandemic began.
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fek / AFP