Pope Francis Tells Anti-Vaxxers to Stop Being Idiots and Get Their Shots

Eighteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are feeling deeply frustrated. Frustrated that life still isn’t back to normal. Frustrated that they still can’t plan for the future. And frustrated, mostly, with the individuals in this country who still, even after the deaths of more than 666,000 people in the United States, won’t take the virus seriously or do the one thing that we know will help stop it in its tracks, i.e. get vaccinated. And we don’t mean frustrated in the way where you’re like, Oh, that’s kind of annoying but what are you gonna do? But wherein you want to grab these people by the shoulders and yell, “Christ on a crutch, what the hell is wrong with you?!” and then tape their mouths shut when they start talking about how they are still doing their “research” into the vaccines.

One of those extremely frustrated people is President Joe Biden, who last week at the White House exasperatedly noted that “despite having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months, free vaccines have been available at 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot,” and then asked, “What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We’ve made vaccinations free, safe, and convenient. The vaccine has FDA approval, over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and the refusal has cost all of us.”

And another one is Pope Francis, who, like Biden, can’t figure out WTF is wrong with these anti-vaxxers. Per the Associated Press:

Pope Francis said Wednesday he didn’t understand why people refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines, saying, “humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines,” and that serene discussion about the shots was necessary to help them. “Even in the College of Cardinals, there are some negationists,” Francis said Wednesday, en route home from Slovakia. He noted that one of them, “poor guy,” had been hospitalized with the virus. That was an apparent reference to U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was hospitalized in the U.S. and placed on a ventilator last month after contracting the virus.

Speaking to reporters, Francis seemed to suggest that Burke, like others who have been hospitalized or died for no good reason, was what the bible refers to as a “f–king idiot.”

Francis also brought up the fact that anti-vaxxers have vaccines to thank for not having to worry about things like polio anymore. “It’s a bit strange, because humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines,” Francis said, noting that for decades, children have been vaccinated against measles, mumps, and polio, “and no one said anything.”

He hypothesized that the “virulence of uncertainty” was due to the diversity of COVID-19 vaccines, the quick approval time, and the plethora of “arguments that created this division,” and fear. Medical experts say vaccines have been tested and used on tens of millions of people and have been proven to be effective in reducing serious hospitalizations and deaths.

Francis noted that the Vatican had vaccinated its residents, staff, and their families “with the exception of a very small group,” and “they’re studying how to help them.” For those who are still afraid, he said: “They have to clarify that and talk with serenity.”