Vatican Begins Offering 3rd COVID19 Vaccines Doses to Elderly & Frail

19 July, 2026

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Deborah Castellano Lubov

27 October, 2021

1 min

Vatican Begins Offering 3rd COVID19 Vaccines Doses to Elderly & Frail

Statement Does Not Comment on Pope Francis and Benedict XVI

Francis and Benedict XVI © Vatican Media

The Vatican has begun to administer the third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to the elderly and to the frail.

This update was given in a brief statement to accredited journalists by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, today, Oct. 27, 2020.

Answering journalists’ questions, Bruni said: “In the second half of October, the Health and Hygiene Department of the Vatican City State began administering the third dose of vaccine against Covid19, giving priority to those over sixty and to the frail.”

Earlier this year, the Vatican had confirmed that both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI had received both doses of the COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccine.

The Vatican did not specifically name the Pope and Pope Emeritus in today’s statement.

Deborah Castellano Lubov

Deborah Castellano Lubov is Editorial Director & Senior Vatican & Rome Correspondent for EXAUDI (& Prior, for ZENIT); Author of 'The Other Francis' ('L'Altro Francesco') featuring interviews with those closest to the Pope and preface by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin (currently published in 5 languages); Deborah is also NBC & MSNBC Vatican Analyst. She often covers the Pope's travels abroad, often from the Papal Flight (including for historic trips such as to Abu Dhabi and Japan & Thailand), and has also asked him questions on the return-flight press conference on behalf of the English-speaking press present. Lubov has done much TV & radio commentary, including for NBC, Sky, EWTN, BBC, Vatican Radio, AP, Reuters and more. She also has contributed to various books on the Pope and has written for various Catholic publications. For 'The Other Francis': http://www.gracewing.co.uk/page219.html or https://www.amazon.com/Other-Francis-Everything-They-about/dp/0852449348/