Cristina HodgsonJUST 2% of people offered a coronavirus jab have turned the chance down, according to the State Secretary for Health, Silvia Calzon.
During a press conference this Thursday, together with the Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simon, Calzon revealed that only 45,611 people have refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 up to February 24, which is just over 2% of those called up for vaccination.
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Additionally, Fernando Simon highlighted that not all the refusals of the vaccines have been due to ‘self-will’, but, in some cases, because the person called for vaccination has just had the virus or another contraindication to vaccination.
Experts and public health chiefs have repeatedly said that a reluctance to take the vaccine could harm the effect of the rollout as poor vaccine uptake rates could prolong the pandemic, however the current low percentage of those turning down the jab help allay these fears.
According to Calzon the total number of people immunised having received the two doses of vaccine exceeds 1.2 million, 2.6% of the population.
Furthermore Spain has seen a recent acceleration in the pace of vaccination, with 151,480 doses rolled out in just one day.
Vaccine rejection in the UK is even lower, with one person in 100 turning down the chance of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) social survey found that, overall, only one person in 100 offered vaccination had declined, but with a variation between age groups.
According to the ONS the percentage for those aged 30-49 was 5%; for 50-69s it was 2%, and for the over-70s it was less than 1%.
