The Vatican health service will begin a vaccination program against COVID-19 using the Pfizer vaccine, the director of the Vatican health service has said.

The vaccine will be made available to the 800 residents and nearly 3,000 workers of the small city-state starting in January. At the confirmatory stage of its development, it used a cell-line called HEK293 which derived from an aborted foetus dating back to 1972.

It will not be mandatory, but will be made available for anyone who wishes to receive it.

“Only through a widespread and capillary immunization of the population will it be possible to obtain real advantages in terms of public health to achieve control of the pandemic,” Dr. Andrea Arcangeli said earlier this month.

“Therefore, it is our duty to offer all residents, employees and their families the opportunity to be immunised against this dreaded disease,” he said.

“It is important to educate everyone that the vaccine is not only to protect one’s own health, but also that of other people,” the Vatican News story said.

Dr. Arcangeli said the Pfizer vaccine, developed in conjunction with BioNTech, was chosen because it is the leading candidate for both European and U.S. approval, is already being used in England and has tested at 95% effective.

“Other vaccines produced with different methods may be introduced after evaluating their efficacy and full safety,” he added.