Spain’s health minister Salvador Illia said on the 28th that Spain will register people who do not want to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus and share this information with other European Union member states.
On the same day, the cumulative number of coronavirus deaths in this southern European country exceeded 50,000.
Encourage vaccination
In an interview with Spanish TV6 on the 28th, Ilia said that the government will provide every citizen with the opportunity to vaccinate the novel coronavirus, and the people decide whether to vaccinate or not.
“We will register those who deny vaccination opportunities offered by the [government] and will share [this information] with European partners [the countries],” Illia said, the record will not be made public, and the registration process will strictly comply with privacy protection regulations.
Spain and other EU countries launched coronavirus vaccination on the 27th. Spain’s first vaccination was a 96-year-old woman in the central province of Guadalajara.
Spain expects to receive about 4.6 million doses of vaccines in the next three months, and about 2.3 million people can be vaccinated. Spain, with a population of 47 million, is expected to complete vaccination by the majority of next year.
A recent poll conducted by a Spanish research institute shows that the proportion of people who do not want to be vaccinated in Spain fell to 28% from 47% in November. 40.5% of the population are willing to be vaccinated, and 16.2% of the population are willing to be vaccinated after the vaccine appears to be “reliable”.
Over 50,000 deaths from illness
According to the coronavirus data of Spain’s Ministry of Health on the 28th, since the release of the data on the 24th, 24,462 new confirmed cases and 298 new deaths have been reported in Spain. Spain has so far confirmed nearly 1.88 million cases and 50,122 deaths.
Spain has one of the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, after Italy, the United Kingdom and France. The cumulative death toll in the above three countries is about 72,000, 71,000 and 63,000 respectively.
In order to prevent and control the second wave of the epidemic, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared a state of emergency again in October. The national emergency gives local governments greater authority to impose epidemic prevention restrictions, including curfews, restrictions on the size of gatherings and the movement of people, which will last until May next year.
Like other EU countries, the Spanish government urges people to “be careful” during Christmas and New Year holidays, and stipulates that no more than 10 people can be gathered.
Spain’s nationwide restrictions on movement of people and curfews have helped curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in recent weeks, the Associated Press reported. Spain has averaged 246 infections per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, down from the peak of an average of 529 infections per 100,000 people in the 14 days ending November 9.
Spain’s health ministry says intensive care units for COVID-19 patients are currently used at 21%.
In March, the Spanish government declared a state of emergency for the first time, prohibiting people from going out unnecessarily and closing most shops. The state of emergency has been extended many times.
