Vatican workers could lose their jobs for refusing the COVID vaccine

by

Rome – The Vatican has taken a tough stance on workers who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19, warning they are at risk of losing their jobs.

According to a decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, whose role as chairman of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City makes him the most senior administrator of the area, workers who refuse the vaccine “without proven health reasons” face sanctions that may include “interruption. from work”. relationship. ”

Vaccination in the Vatican
A photo provided by Vatican Media shows a room in the atrium of the Paul VI audience, ready for a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Vatican City, January 13, 2021 in Vatican City.

Vatican Media / Getty


Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state, located in the heart of Rome. It employs several thousand people, most of whom live outside its walled 100-acre territory and in Italy itself.

Those who live within the walls of the Vatican are generally elderly, such as retired Pope Benedict XVI, 93, and Pope Francis, 84. The Pope was vaccinated against COVID-19 last month and was a strong supporter of vaccination in the global fight against the coronavirus.

“It is an ethical choice, because you gamble with your health, with your life, but you also gamble with the lives of others”, Francis told an Italian TV channel last month.

Vatican Christmas
Pope Francis celebrates Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on December 24, 2020.

Vincenzo Pinto / AP


Bertello, who lives daily life in the Vatican City, tested positive for the corona virus in December. Less than 30 people in the Vatican have contracted the disease.

Last month, the Vatican began vaccinating homeless people who are being cared for in the area’s food and health facilities.

Under Francis, the Vatican set up a number of facilities to help the homeless population of Rome, providing areas where people can bathe and get haircuts, as well as food and healthcare. This winter, it has started offering free COVID tests to migrants and homeless people right below the window where the Pope gives his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

Vatican starts vaccinating homeless people in Rome against COVID-19
A group of homeless people cared for in structures operated by the office of papal charities await their first dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Vatican, January 20, 2021.

Vatican Media / Press release / REUTERS


Once the epicenter of the global pandemic, Italy is now facing a second wave worse than the first, and new variants of the virus, such as the one first discovered in the UK, which now accounts for one in five new cases.

More than 94,000 deaths are due to the virus in Italy, the second highest death toll in Europe after the United Kingdom.

Source