He’s ‘good to go’: Dr. Fauci tells kids he vaccinated Santa Claus

Santa Claus may be immune to COVID-19 but he now has an extra layer of protection thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.

Fauci, who will celebrate his birthday on Christmas eve, told children watching a “Sesame Street” town hall put on by CNN Saturday that he vaccinated Kris Kringle himself.

In the clip, a masked Elmo told viewers that his friend has a question for Santa. Lucy, 8, from San Rafael, California posed a question that is troubling many children this season: ”How did Santa get the vaccine and is it safe for him to go in the house?”

Connor, 9, from Mount Holly, New Jersey, and Paxton, 6, from Geneva, Illinois, voiced the same question.

“Well, I have to say I took care of that for you because I was worried that you’d all be upset,” Fauci said in response.

He explained that he took a trip to the North Pole to visit Santa. “I vaccinated Santa Claus myself,” Fauci said. “I measured his level of immunity and he is good to go.”

Santa is ready to don his red suit and come down the chimney, leaving gifts behind. “You have nothing to worry about,” Fauci assured his audience.

This isn’t the first time that Fauci has said that children should feel safe given Santa’s immunity.

“Santa is exempt from this because Santa, of all the good qualities, has a lot of good innate immunity,” Fauci told USA TODAY in November.

“Santa is not going to be spreading any infections to anybody,” he said.

Apart from being vaccinated, Santa has also been taking coronavirus precautions. He’s been making few appearances this holiday season, and he is social distancing. For example, he’s taking more Zoom calls, and his limited visits to stores and malls will mostly be behind glass.

Contributing: Grace Hauck and Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY