The Vatican has warned its employees that refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus could have consequences, such as dismissal, by “endangering public health.”
The Chairman of the Pontifical Commission of the Vatican City State, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, signed a decree containing measures to deal with the public health emergency, explaining that there will be economic sanctions for those who fail to comply Keep these standards, like vaccination, and if it persists, it will be possible to “end the employment relationship” for those who have no “proven health reasons”.
The Vatican launched a vaccination campaign last month among its nearly 800 residents and its more than 3,000 employees and their families.
The sanctions provided for in Article 6 refer to a Vatican law of 2011, which already provided that Vatican employees were not to undergo “official medical examinations,” “responsibility and consequences,” “until the termination of the employment relationship.”
Both Pope Francis, 84, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 93, have received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine and have been immunized
The Vatican City Health and Hygiene Directorate reserved approximately 10,000 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for its vaccination campaign, which began on January 13.
Pope Francis had already expected to be vaccinated in an interview conducted before he received the first dose.
“I believe that ethically everyone should be vaccinated. It’s an ethical option because it concerns your life, but also that of others,” Francisco said at the time.