MADRID, Aug 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain has become a leader of Europe’s virus vaccination drive against Covid-19, due to a deep trust in the public health system and close-knit family ties that encourage people to get the jab to protect relatives.
More than 61 percent of Spain’s population of 47 million is fully vaccinated, one of the highest rates among large European Union nations — ahead of Italy’s 57.8 percent, 56 percent in France and 55.2 percent in Germany. The figure in the United States is 50.3 percent.
One of the cornerstones of Spain’s successful vaccine drive is trust in the health system, Josep Lobera, a sociology professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said.
And that means there is little vaccine hesitancy.
“We have an advantage with respect to other nations, because confidence in vaccines in general, especially childhood vaccines, is traditionally higher than in other European nations,” said Lobera, who sits on the government’s vaccine strategy committee.
A study by the Imperial College London published in June found that 79 percent of people in Spain trusted Covid-19 vaccines, compared to 62 percent in the US, 56 percent in France and 47 percent in Japan.
Spain has been spared the large protests seen in France and Italy against mandatory vaccines for health care workers, and the creation of a health pass giving them access to routine activities such as dining indoors.
The country did not need to make vaccination mandatory for teachers or other key workers, because “practically everyone gets vaccinated voluntarily”, Education Minister Pilar Alegría told news radio Cadena Ser.
Set up after Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the country’s public health care system offers free universal coverage as a constitutionally guaranteed right.
As a result, most Spaniards associate it with modernity, said Lobera.
Close family ties also explain the willingness to get vaccinated in Spain: 55 percent of peopled aged between 25 and 29 still live with their parents. — NNN-AGENCIES
