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Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI get COVID-19 vaccine

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Vatican (Photo courtesy of Vatican Media)

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have already received the first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus, said the Vatican on Thursday, January 14.

Both the 84-year-old pope and the 93-year-old former pope, got their jabs as part of a Vatican vaccination program that began on Wednesday.

The Vatican, the world’s smallest state, began its COVID-19 vaccination program this week, prioritizing doctors, other members of the Vatican health services, and the most vulnerable.

Pope Francis is among those most at risk of the disease because part of one of his lungs was removed following an illness when he was a young man in his native Argentina.

Pope Benedict is frail and suffering from a number of ailments related to old age, such as arthritis.

There have been fewer than 30 cases of coronavirus in the Vatican City, most of them among the Swiss Guard, who live in a communal barracks.

Pope Francis said at the weekend that everyone should get a jab.

“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 told Italy’s Canale 5 TV station. - LiCAS.news

 

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