Posted on 11/17/2009 5:19:54 PM PST by Dallas59
Many of the nation's Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids. There's also the not-so-little matter of that round belly. Research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor.
Swine flu has become such a concern that the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas featured a seminar on the illness at a recent conference in Philadelphia. The group also urged its members to use hand sanitizer and take vitamins to boost their immune systems.
The president of the organization said he also hopes parents will keep sick kids away.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It's just a FLU. It's the vaccine that is KILLING PEOPLE with compromised immune systems and other health issues!
Excerpts:
He recalled a boy who informed him last year that he had a fever and had stayed home from school. But, the child said, his mother thought it was a good day to visit Santa.
...
So ONE boy is representative of ALL boys?
Ernest Berger, president of another group called Santa America, asked an Alabama congressman last week to designate Santas a priority group for the swine flu vaccine, like health care workers or infant caregivers.
WILL SANTA BEING GIVING OUT SHOTS before you can sit on his lap?
A spokesman for Republican Rep. Jo Bonner confirmed Berger's request and said staff members were looking into it.
Berger hopes Santas will use hand sanitizer and encourage children to do the same, without turning the experience into a hygiene lecture.
Ah, yes the STERILE environment and politicizing of Santa.
...
Berger estimates that about two-thirds of all American Santas are overweight, and about a third are morbidly obese.
WILL SANTA also give a lesson on proper eating before you can have your picture taken? Does Santa need to slim down AGAIN in the name of politically correctness
That raises health concerns because some research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor for severe swine flu.
LOL!!! The vaccine police and obesity police are at it through SANTA!
A high proportion of those who have gotten severely ill from swine flu have been obese or extremely obese. But health officials have also said that might be due to the fact that heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more susceptible.
Nah, being FAT; forget complications give liberals more control.
The 200 or so Santas who volunteer to visit sick or grieving children through Santa America will be washing their suits daily instead of weekly and will not be wearing gloves this year so they can wash their hands frequently, Berger said.
I thought they already did wash their clothes DAILY with all those kids. Why remove the gloves? Wouldn't that PROTECT them from these germ ridden kids ? ;)
...
In Nashua, N.H., hand-sanitizing stations have been set up around the Pheasant Lane Mall, including just outside the picket fence surrounding the Santa Claus area. But on a recent Saturday, not one of the dozen or so families who passed through used it.
LOL!!! Guess we'll have to make this a LAW to use the hand sanitizer?
Susen Mesco, owner of American Events and Promotions in Denver, Colo., which runs a five-day Santa school, said her Santas will be wearing gloves but changing them every three hours and washing them in anti-bacterial soap.
Why not wash them every 30 seconds?
...
“If your hand was warm and moist, it could live longer,” she said. “It depends on whether you have a glob of mucus on your hand where it's going to live happily versus a tiny speck. It's kind of disgusting, but it would depend on what was on your hand.”
YUCK!
Dr. Jack Turco, director of health services at Dartmouth College, said Santa might consider greeting children from a few feet away rather than holding them on his lap, or asking children with coughs to stand in a separate line.
Yes, give kids a COMPLEX!
“If we take this really seriously, and I think we should because people are dying, it wouldn't be inappropriate to say this is a year maybe we shouldn't do these mass gatherings,” he said.
yes, let's not have “mass gatherings” and spoil the Santa Claus visit for the little kids in the name of health scare correctness.
How sad that they are going to such extremes to make government health care YOUR reality.
LOL
Doesn’t matter - the Post Office just killed SAnta Clause
NO letters will be postmarked at the North Pole (ah, alaska) office this year.
THo the PO admits to handleing some 800K letters last year - this year, no dice, well, no postmark.
Bah humbug FedGov.
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