The Vatican health director calls Covid vaccines "the only possibility" to get out of the pandemic

The Vatican is expected to begin distributing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to citizens and employees in the coming days, giving priority to medical personnel, those with specific illnesses and the elderly, including retirees.

Details of the launch remain scarce, although some indications have been provided in recent days.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero last week, Andrea Arcangeli, director of the Vatican's health and hygiene office, said it was "a matter of days" before the vaccine doses arrive and distributions can begin.

"Everything is ready to start our campaign immediately," he said, saying the Vatican will follow the same guidelines as the rest of the international community, including Italy, offering the vaccine first to people "on the front lines, such as doctors and assistance. sanitary. staff, followed by people of public utility. "

"Then there will be Vatican citizens who suffer from specific or disabling diseases, then the elderly and frail and gradually all the others," he said, noting that his department has decided to offer the vaccine also to the families of Vatican employees.

The Vatican has around 450 residents and around 4.000 employees, about half of whom have families, which means they expect to supply nearly 10.000 doses.

"We have enough to cover our internal needs," Arcangeli said.

Explaining why he chose the Pfizer vaccine over the Moderna vaccine, which was approved for use by the European Commission on January 6, Arcangeli said it was a matter of timing, since Pfizer was "the only one vaccine approved and available ".

"Later, if needed, we can also use other vaccines, but for now we are waiting for Pfizer," he said, adding that he intends to get the vaccine himself, because "it's the only way we have to get out of this global tragedy. "

Asked whether Pope Francis, one of the most outspoken advocates of a fair distribution of vaccines, will be vaccinated, Arcangeli said "I imagine he will," but said he cannot offer any guarantees since he is not the pope's doctor.

Traditionally, the Vatican has taken the position that the pope's health is a private matter and does not provide information on his care.

Noting that there is a large "no-vax" portion of global society that resists vaccines, either on suspicion of being rushed and potentially dangerous, or for moral reasons related to the fact that at various stages of vaccine development and testing they have been used stem cell lines derived remotely from aborted fetuses,

Arcangli said he understands why there may be hesitation.

However, he insisted that vaccines "are the only chance we have, the only weapon at our disposal to keep this pandemic under control".

Each vaccine has been extensively tested, he said, noting that while it took years to develop and test a vaccine before putting it out in the past, the global community's collective investment amid the coronavirus pandemic meant that "the evidence could be performed faster. "

Excessive fear of vaccines is "the fruit of misinformation," he said, criticizing social media for having amplified "the words of people who don't have the competence to make scientific claims and this ends up sowing irrational fears."

"Personally, I have a lot of faith in science and am more than convinced that the vaccines available are safe and pose no risk," he said, adding: "The end of the tragedy we are experiencing depends on the spread of vaccines."

In the ongoing debate among Catholic faithful, including bishops, on the morality of COVID-19 vaccines, on December 21 the Vatican issued a clarification that gives the green light to the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, despite having been developed using cell lines derived fetuses aborted in the 60s.

The reason for this, the Vatican said, is that not only is cooperation in the original abortion so remote that it is not a problem in this case, but when an "ethically blameless" alternative is not available, vaccines using aborted fetuses. it is admissible in the presence of a "serious threat" to public health and safety, such as COVID-19.

Italy itself is also in the midst of its own vaccine campaign. The first round of doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in the country on December 27, going first to healthcare workers and those living in retirement homes.

Currently, about 326.649 people have been vaccinated, meaning that just under 50% of the 695.175 delivered doses have already been administered.

Over the next three months, Italy will receive another 1,3 million doses, of which 100.000 will arrive in January, 600.000 in February and a further 600.000 in March, with priority given to citizens over 80, disabled people and their caregivers, as well as to people. suffering from various diseases.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life and head of the Italian government's commission for the care of the elderly in the midst of the coronavirus, echoed Francis's frequent appeal for a fair distribution of vaccines around the world.

In December, the Vatican's coronavirus task force and the Pontifical Academy for Life issued a joint statement calling for greater international collaboration in ensuring the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines not only in rich Western nations, but also in poor countries. who can't afford it.

Paglia called for an effort to overcome what he called "any logic of 'vaccine nationalism', which places states in antagonism to assert their prestige and take advantage of it at the expense of the poorest countries".

The priority, he said, "should be to vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries."

Referring to the no-vax crowd and their reservations about the vaccine, Paglia said that getting vaccinated in this case is “a responsibility that everyone must take on. Obviously according to the priorities defined by the competent authorities. "

"The protection not only of one's own health but also of public health is at stake," he said. "Vaccination, in fact, reduces on the one hand the possibility of infecting people who will not be able to receive it due to already precarious health conditions for other reasons and, on the other, the overload of health systems".

Asked if the Catholic Church takes the side of science in the case of vaccines, Paglia said that the Church "is on the side of humanity, making critical use of scientific data as well."

“The pandemic reveals to us that we are fragile and interconnected, as people and as a society. To get out of this crisis we must join forces, ask politics, science, civil society, a great common effort ", he said, adding:" The Church, for its part, invites us to work for the common good, [ which is] more essential than ever. "