Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Monday that his country will create a registry to keep track of citizens who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
He told Spanish television channel La Sexta that the names of people who refuse to be vaccinated “will be kept in a register” that would be shared with other European Union nations, according to the New York Times.
“We all see that the best form to defeat the virus is to get all vaccinated, the more, the better,” Illa said. He added that being vaccinated should be seen as “an act of solidarity toward our loved ones and our citizenship.”
The comments come after the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, who leads the opposition Popular Party, said a “shortage of information” was causing Spanish citizens to question the efficacy of the vaccines.
In early December, the Associated Press released polling that found that 47% of adults in the United States would get a coronavirus vaccination when the shots are available to them.
