VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Thursday decided to clarify a decree that employees could lose their jobs if they refuse to vaccinate COVID-19 without legitimate health reasons, after criticism on social networks.
A February 8 decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the Vatican’s governor, said getting a vaccine was a “responsible choice” because of the risk of harming others.
The Vatican, with an area of 108 hectares, is the smallest state in the world, has several thousand employees, most of whom live in Italy. His vaccination program began last month, and Pope Francis, 84, was among the first to receive the vaccine.
The decree said that those who could not be vaccinated for health reasons could be given another job, probably if they had contact with fewer people, but will receive the same payment even if the new job is demoted.
But the decree said that those who refuse to be vaccinated without sufficient reason would be subject to a specific provision in a 2011 law on the rights and obligations of employees.
The 2011 law says employees who refuse “preventive measures” could be subject to “varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal.”
Following news of the decree on Thursday, many Italians took to Twitter to criticize it, with some saying it was against Pope Francis’ general request for mercy.
On Thursday evening, the Bertello office issued a statement saying that “alternative solutions” would be found for those who do not want to be vaccinated.
He noted that the reference to the article in the 2011 law which specifically mentioned the possibility of dismissal should not be seen as “sanctioning or punitive” and that “individual freedom of choice” would be respected.
Pope Francis is a strong supporter of vaccines to stop the spread of coronavirus, and the Vatican has forced COVID-19 vaccination for journalists accompanying the pope on his trip to Iraq next month.
There have been fewer than 30 cases of coronavirus in the Vatican, most of them among the Swiss Guard, who live in a communal barracks.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Edited by Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis