Vatican officials have told employees they risk being fired if they refuse coronavirus vaccination, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello said in a decree that employees who cannot get shot for health reasons can be transferred to less public positions without a pay cut.
However, the decree went on to say that those who did not have a health reason for refusing the vaccine would be subject to a 2011 law stating that they would face “varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal” because they did not they took “preventive measures”. measures. ”
Bertello himself tested positive for the virus in March and went into isolation for two weeks.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis: The Council of Capitalism should instead address corrupt governments, the Vatican-appointed nun says “patriarchal mentality is changing” Pope urges governments to use pandemic to create a fairer economy MORE Similarly, he stressed what he says is a responsibility for members of the public to receive the vaccination, telling the Italian press last month “it is an ethical choice because [without the vaccine] you play with your health, with your life, but you also play with the lives of others. ”
The pontiff received the vaccine in January, when the Vatican began its vaccination campaign.
The Vatican also said that only journalists who have been vaccinated will be allowed to accompany the pope on a trip to Iraq in March.
While the Vatican itself has recorded less than 30 cases of the virus, Italy was one of the first European epicenters of the pandemic, with more than 2.75 million confirmed cases and 95,540 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.