No Vaccine, No Work: Vatican will fire those who do not get Vaccinated

The State of Vatican has warned its employees that refusing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus can have consequences such as dismissal, by “putting public health at risk”.

The president of the Pontifical Commission of the State of Vatican City, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, signed a decree with measures to face the public health emergency, which explains that there will be economic sanctions for those who do not comply with these norms, such as the vaccination, and if it persists it will be possible to reach “to end the employment relationship” for those who do not have “proven health reasons”.

The Vatican It started a vaccination campaign last month among its nearly 800 residents and its more than 3,000 employees and their families.

The sanctions provided for in article 6 refer to a 2011 Vatican law, which already provided for Vatican employees not to submit to “official medical exams” “responsibility and consequences” “until the termination of the employment relationship”.

As Pope Francis, 84, like the pontiff emeritus Benedict XVI, 93, have received the second dose of the vaccine against coronavirus and they are immunized.

The Health and Hygiene Directorate of Vatican City reserved nearly 10,000 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for its vaccination campaign, which began on January 13.

Pope Francis had already anticipated that he would be vaccinated in an interview conducted before receiving the first dose.

“I believe that ethically everyone has to get vaccinated. It is an ethical option because it concerns your life, but also that of others”, said Pope Francis.