Rome – Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict have their first doses of a coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican confirmed Thursday. The pope and his predecessor received the first half of their vaccinations as part of a campaign for Vatican City residents and employees launched on Wednesday.
Pope Francis is 84, and Pope Emeritus Benedict is 93, so their ages alone put them both at high risk for complications of the virus. In addition, at the age of 21, Francis removed part of a lung due to a recurrent lung infection. He was in a hospital for months and was not sure if he would live or die.
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“I have a feeling of how people with coronavirus feel when they struggle to breathe on ventilators,” he said. recently wrote, who recalled his health crisis more than half a century ago.
Francis has been a staunch supporter of COVID-19 vaccinations, calling the refusal of vaccination even ethically unacceptable.
“You gamble with your health, with your life, but you also gamble with the lives of others,” he said in a recent interview with Italian broadcaster Canale 5. He said ‘anti-vaxxers’ live in inexplicable’ suicide denial. . “
The Vatican’s learning office in December said it was ‘morally acceptable’ for Catholics to have a coronavirus vaccine, even if it was developed using cell lines of aborted fetuses.
However, the American Conference of Catholic Bishops said that all three major vaccines – by Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford / AstraZeneca – had a ‘very remote’ connection to stem cells of aborted fetuses, but that the AstraZeneca vaccine was ‘moral’. compromised, “and therefore” should be avoided if alternatives are available. ”
It is believed that Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict both received the Pfizer vaccine. In December, the head of the Vatican’s health service said the small town state would implement its vaccination program with the Pfizer medication.
Francis was a strong pleads for a fair and equitable distribution COVID-19 vaccines around the world, especially for the needy.
The Vatican’s vaccination program includes Vatican City residents, employees and their families.
Vatican City has had fewer than 30 cases of COVID-19, including some in the same hotel residence where Pope Francis lives. The majority of cases, however, were among Swiss guards living in communal barracks.