Pope Francis has revealed that he will be getting the COVID-19 vaccine as early as next week, telling the world that it is an ethical obligation to do so.

“It’s an ethical choice because you are playing with health, life, but you are also playing with the lives of others,” ” Pope Francis said in a TG5 interview that will be aired this evening.

“I don’t understand why some say, ‘No, vaccines are dangerous.’ If it is presented by doctors as a thing that can go well, that has no special dangers, why not take it? There is a suicidal denial that I wouldn’t know how to explain,” he continued.

The virus has forced Pope Francis to stay home and scale back on events during much of the past year. Throughout the year, the Pope has given addresses in a vast, empty St Peter’s Square to detail how the virus has changed the lives of everyone, including the church.

In the interview, Pope Francis recalls previous vaccines, praising them for their effectiveness in battling threatening viruses.

“We grew up in the shadow of vaccines, for measles, for this and that, vaccines that they gave us as children,” he said.

A Malta Today survey has found that around 84% of people in Malta would be willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. However, around 15% said they were either unsure or unwilling to take it.

Malta has so far secured 770,000 doses of vaccines that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency, 670,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 100,000 of the Moderna jab. 

It has also ordered several more doses of potential vaccines, including a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been approved by the UK and India but not by the EU. 

Malta expects to achieve herd immunity, equivalent to the inoculation of 60-70% of people, by the end of September, based on the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines alone. 

The interview will air at 8.40 pm on Canale 5.

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