Spain mother 'kidnapped' sons to avoid COVID-19 vaccine

A woman accused by her ex-husband of kidnapping their two boys to prevent them from being vaccinated against COVID-19 turned herself in to the authorities on Wednesday, Jan. 5, officials said.

The 46-year-old woman was wanted for "kidnapping minors" after her ex-husband, who lives near the southern city of Seville, filed a complaint with police in mid-December accusing her of taking the boys aged 14 and 12 without authorization, a judicial source told AFP.

The man said he had not seen the boys since Nov. 4 when he received a letter from his former wife saying she planned to remove them from their school just days after a court ruled he had the right to decide whether the children should be vaccinated.

The woman turned herself in to the authorities on Wednesday morning in Seville with the two boys and a judge ordered her to be remanded in custody pending charges, the source said.

The two minors were handed over to their father on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for Spain´s Guardia Civil police force said.

Spain, along with several other European nations, began vaccinating children aged five to 11 against COVID-19 on Dec. 15.

The country has no significant anti-vaccine movement.

With 90 percent of over-12s in the country fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Spain has one of the highest shares of fully immunized people in Europe. (AFP)