Pope Francis announced in an interview with the Italian television channel "Canal 5" that he will receive the anti-corona virus vaccine "next week," considering that refusal to receive the vaccine reflects a "suicide denial."
The Pope said in the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday evening and distributed to the media, "Next week, we will start with that here (in the Vatican) and I have set a date. This must be done," adding that "there is a suicide denial (in refusing to receive the vaccine). But the vaccine should be received today. "
And Pope Francis said in the interview, "I believe that everyone should vaccinate themselves from an ethical point of view. It is a moral choice because a person puts his health and life at risk, as well as the lives of others."
He also said, "When I was a child, I remember the outbreak of the polio epidemic that caused a large number of children to be paralyzed and we were waiting anxiously for the vaccine (...) and when the vaccine came to light, it was given with sugar. Then we grew up under the vaccines, against measles, against This disease and against that, vaccines were given to children. "
Pope Francis asked, "I do not know why someone would say ´No, the vaccine is dangerous.´ If doctors consider that it may be a good thing and does not show specific dangers, then why not receive it?"
The pontiff’s statements coincided with the Vatican’s announcement on Saturday of the death of the Pope’s personal doctor, Fabrizio Socorse, 78, due to “complications arising from Covid-19,” while he was lying “in the hospital to receive treatment for a cancerous disease.”
Socorse has been Pope Francis´ physician since 2015.
