Spain will keep a registry of individuals who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19, the country’s health minister announced Monday.
Salvador Illa said during an interview on Spain’s La Sexta TV that the registry will not be made public and vaccinations will be voluntary.
“What will be done is a register, which will be shared with our European partners … of those people who have been offered it and have simply rejected it,” Mr. Illa said, the BBC reported.
Mr. Illa stressed that people who decide not to get vaccinated are making a “mistake” but are still within their rights.
“It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection,” he said, the BBC reported. “People who are offered a therapy that they refuse for any reason, it will be noted in the register … that there is no error in the system, not to have given this person the possibility of being vaccinated.”
The comments sparked criticism from some health care professionals.
“The most important thing is to know how the registry will be used,” Jose Luis Cobos, the deputy director of the Spanish General Council of Nursing, told CNN.
“If it’s for public health purposes to better understand COVID, and it’s anonymous, that’s one thing,” he said. “But if it’s ’I’m now on the list of the bad people,’ that’s another thing. We don’t think a registry should be used to infringe on liberties, or for employers against people.”
The head of Spain’s Medicines Agency, Maria Jesus Lamas, later clarified that the registry would be anonymous and for the purpose of understanding “the causes behind declining the vaccination … doubt or rejection,” CNN reported.
“The registry is anonymous. There’s no chance of identifying anyone in the registry,” Ms. Jesus Lamas told Spain’s SER radio.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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