Santa Has Been Vaccinated Against COVID-19, According to Fauci

In CNN's recent Sesame Street ABC's of COVID-19 town hall, Anthony Fauci, MD, answered questions addressing children’s concerns for Santa’s health during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as their own worries about whether Santa would still be able to deliver presents to them on Christmas.¹

During the town hall, Fauci told Elmo and the children in attendance that he was able to reach the North Pole in time to vaccinate Santa Claus so that Santa would be able to safely enter their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.¹

“Well, I have to say I took care of that for you cause I was worried that you’d all be upset. So, what I did a little while ago [was] I took a trip up to the North Pole, I went there, and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. I measured his level of immunity, and he’s good to go. He can come down the chimney, he can leave the presents, and you have nothing to worry about,” said Fauci.¹

Later, Fauci also addressed the children’s concerns regarding when they would be able to get safely vaccinated just like Santa. Fauci explained that when testing vaccines, it’s important to first test in adults during clinical trials before children would be tested for the safety and efficacy of a vaccine.²

“When you get a new vaccine, you generally want to show the safety and the efficacy in an adult population. Once you do, then you start doing trials—maybe a couple of months later—in children so that you can quickly as possible get them the vaccine. So, the reason why you’re not hearing about vaccinating children right now is because we want to wait a month or 2,” Fauci said.²

He noted that trials testing the vaccine in children would most likely start in January.²

“We’ll start with children who are a bit older, and we’ll work our way down so that hopefully within a few months, we’ll be able to tell children what I’ll know we’ll be able to say, that the vaccine is safe and effective,” Fauci said. “So just hang in there a couple more months, and we’ll be in good shape.”²

In the town hall, the children also mentioned their worries regarding how much the vaccine would hurt once they do have the opportunity to get vaccinated.²

“The vaccine shot is in the arm. It’s a pinch, but the pinch will last really a short time—literally in seconds,” Fauci said. “I’ll bet you that after you get vaccinated, when vaccines become available for children, you’re going to say, ‘You know, it wasn’t really that bad at all,’ I’ll guarantee.”²

REFERENCES

• CNN. Dr. Fauci: I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. CNN website. cnn.com/videos/health/2020/12/19/sesame-street-covid-19-santa-claus-vaccine-fauci-sot-vpx.cnn. Published December 19, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020.
• CNN. Dr. Fauci explains when kids will get vaccinated. CNN website. cnn.com/videos/health/2020/12/19/fauci-kids-coronavirus-vaccine-sesame-street-town-hall-sot-vpx.cnn. Published December 19, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020.