Vatican officials have told employees they risk being fired if they refuse a vaccination against the coronavirus, Reuters reported Thursday.
Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello said in a decree that workers who are unable to receive the shot for health reasons can be transferred to fewer public positions without a pay cut.
However, the decree went on to say that those who had no health reason to refuse the vaccine will be subject to a 2011 law stating they will face “ varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal ” because they not “preventive measures.”
Bertello himself tested positive for the virus in March and went into isolation for two weeks.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis The Pope’s council on capitalism should instead address the corrupt governments. has similarly stressed that what he believes is a responsibility for members of the public to get the vaccination, telling the Italian media last month: “It is an ethical choice because [without the vaccine] you gamble with your health, with your life, but you also gamble with the lives of others. “
The Pope received the vaccine in January when the Vatican began its vaccination campaign.
The Vatican has also said that only journalists who have received vaccinations should accompany the Pope on a trip to Iraq in March.
While the Vatican City itself has seen fewer than 30 cases of the virus, Italy was one of the pandemic’s first European epicenters, with more than 2.75 million confirmed cases and 95,540 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.