Vatican City. Both Pope Francis and former Pope Benedict have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican said on Thursday.
The 84-year-old pope and the 93-year-old former pope got their jabs as part of a Vatican vaccination program that began Wednesday.
Both men are vulnerable to contracting the virus due to their age.
Francis is perhaps more at risk because part of one of his lungs was removed after an illness when he was a young man in his native Argentina.
Benedict is weak and suffers from a number of ailments related to age, such as arthritis.
There were less than 30 cases of coronavirus in the Vatican City, most of them under Swiss guard, living in a communal barracks.
Pope Francis said over the weekend that everyone should get a jerk. “It’s an ethical choice because you gamble with your health, with your life, but also with the lives of others,” he told the Canale 5 TV station in Italy.