Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reassured children over the weekend that he personally visited Santa Claus at the North Pole, and vaccinated him.
Appearing on a CNN Town Hall that educated children on the coronavirus, several children submitted questions on whether Santa would be able to visit them amid the pandemic.
“I have to say I took care of that for you because I was worried you all would be upset,” Fauci told the children. “I took a trip up there to the North Pole. I went there and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. I measured his level of immunity. He is good to go. He can come down the chimney.”
Fauci added, “You have nothing to worry about.”
Fauci did not indicate which vaccine he injected Santa with. There are currently two coronavirus vaccines that have garnered an emergency use authorization from the FDA. A vaccine produced by Pfizer, which studies indicate has a 95% efficacy rate, began being administered in the US last week. A second coronavirus vaccine, which is produced by Moderna and has a 94% efficacy rate, began being administered today.
Other than Santa, front-line health care workers and those living and working in assisted care facilities were among the first to get the vaccine. Also, some leaders in Washington, including Vice President Mike Pence and President-elect Joe Biden, have also received the vaccine.
Fauci was asked on Saturday by children when they can expect to be vaccinated. Currently, the two vaccines are not recommended for children.
Fauci explained that in order to protect children, it is important for a vaccine to demonstrate efficacy among children before administering it.
“The reason why you are not hearing about vaccinating children right now is because we want to wait a month or two,” Fauci said. “We are looking at January, we are going to start some trials in children. We’ll start with children who are a bit older and work our way down so that hopefully within a few months, we’ll be able to tell children, when I know we’ll be able to say, that the vaccine is ‘safe and effective in you.’”