Pope Francis with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the Vatican on June 30, 2015. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Francis and his predecessor, former pope Benedict XVI, have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Francis had said in an interview with Italy’s Canale 5 Channel last Saturday, that he will receive the vaccine this week, and urged everyone to get a shot to protect themselves.
“It is an ethical duty to take the vaccine. Here in the Vatican, we will start next week. I am also in line to take it. There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated. I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine. It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others,” he had said.
Matteo Bruni, spokesman to the Vatican, confirmed on Thursday that the two clerics had received the vaccine.
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“I can confirm that as part of the vaccination programme of the Vatican City State, as of today, the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and to the Pope Emeritus,” Bruni said.
Francis has spoken several times about the COVID-19 pandemic and asked countries to share and make the vaccine available to everyone.
According to Worldometers, global statistics platform, as of January 14, over 92 million people have been infected, out of which 1,990,319 deaths and 66,452,534 recoveries have been recorded.
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