TheCable

Pope Francis says he will receive the COVID-19 vaccine next week.

Francis, who stated this in an interview with Italy’s Canale 5 Channel on Saturday, asked everyone to get a shot to protect themselves and everyone else.

“It is an ethical duty to take the vaccine, here in the Vatican we will start next week, I am also in line to take it,” he said.

“There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated.

“I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine. 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.”

In December, the Vatican had said it is morally right to be vaccinated after some anti-abortion groups raised concerns over how the vaccines are manufactured.

“It is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process,” the Vatican had said.

According to Worldometers, global statistics platform, the COVID-19 infections globally has reached 89, 843,926 while 1,929,958 have died from the virus with 64,287,159 recoveries.