The Vatican issued a decree saying workers who do not receive the COVID-19 vaccine would lose their jobs before reversing the statement amid widespread criticism.
The February 8 edict by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, Governor of Vatican City, said workers who refused to receive a vaccination without sufficient reason would be subject to a 2011 law calling for “varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal” .
Thousands of workers commute from Italy to the small city-state, and many Italians used social media to reject the order, calling it merciless, and contrary to Pope Francis’s teachings.
On Thursday night, Bertello said “alternative solutions” would be found for government employees who refuse to receive the vaccine.
Some abortion advocates have ethical objections to coronavirus vaccines made with stem cells.
In December, Vatican officials endorsed COVID-19 inoculations in a statement that read, “It is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and manufacturing process.”
Pope Francis got his first chance alongside former Pope Benedict in January when the Vatican launched its COVID-19 vaccination program.
The feeble Catholic Church leader needs journalists to report on the vaccine on his trip to Iraq next month.
Only about 800 people live in the 108-acre land, which has seen fewer than 30 cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic; most of the Swiss Guard, who live in a communal barracks.
With pole wires