The coronavirus pandemic is changing the way families celebrate Christmas this year, but thankfully Santa Claus will still be able to safely slide down the chimney and leave presents for good boys and girls.
Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to questions from concerned children in a CNN segment that was designed to educate them about COVID-19. Elmo from "Sesame Street" introduced a few kids who asked Fauci via video whether there will be an issue with Santa coming inside their homes.
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"Well, I have to say I took care of that for you because I was worried that you'd all be upset," Dr. Fauci said. "So what I did a little while ago, 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 and he is good to go. He can come down the chimney, he can leave the presents, he can leave and you have nothing to worry about. Santa Claus is good to go."
Last month, before the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use and rolled out across the United States, Dr. Fauci suggested that Santa was immune from the coronavirus and wouldn't spread COVID-19 while making his annual visits to children's homes.
"Santa is exempt from this because Santa, of all the good qualities, has a lot of good innate immunity," Fauci told USA Today. "Santa is not going to be spreading any infections to anybody."
It's a holiday miracle!
In addition to Christmas, there's also another important day coming up — Dr. Fauci's birthday. He'll celebrate his 80th birthday on Christmas Eve, just as Santa takes off on a sleigh ride around the world.